All Indonesia projects are managed by EWS-KT’s sister organization, Yayasan Bina Tani Sejahtera (YBTS).
Context and Project Objective
The easternmost part of Indonesia, Papua has more than 4 million people across 6 provinces. While the potential for agricultural productivity is high, farmers in Papua currently experience low yields from vegetable production, as they lack information on good agricultural practices, as well as access to high-quality seeds and other agricultural inputs.
Yayasan Bina Tani Sejahtera (YBTS) has been active in Papua since 2016, delivering various knowledge transfer and extension activities aimed at small-scale farmers. This project is designed to facilitate farmers’ access to knowledge and skills and to support the adoption of good agricultural practices that lead to higher yields and incomes. The project aims to build the capacity of 10,440 smallholder farmers (40% women and 25% youth) to build resilient livelihoods and increase family income and nutritional security through accelerated and inclusive market development.
The project beneficiaries will be approximately 50% Indigenous farmers and 50% transmigrant farmers. Indigenous farmers are originally from Papua, and most of them lack knowledge about vegetable farming, as they concentrate on crops like banana, cassava, and taro instead. Indigenous farmers typically have their own land, but less-than-optimal agricultural methods result in low yields. Transmigrant farmers belong to populations that migrated to Papua from other parts of Indonesia. Transmigrant farmers typically have basic knowledge on growing vegetables but are eager to learn new techniques and technologies.
While both Indigenous and transmigrant farmers will learn through intensive field-based training activities, YBTS will apply slightly different outreach approaches for the two groups. In particular, higher literacy rates among transmigrant farmers will enable more use of printed knowledge transfer materials, while “learning by doing” will remain the predominant training method for Indigenous farmers.
Interventions
YBTS’s work model is based on years of experience in serving farmers and in fostering change and adoption of good farming practices and high-quality seeds, leading to increased yields and farm income. Project interventions will include:
- Creating farming communities centered around demonstration plots where key farmers model early adoption, and where Community Farmer Trainers (CFTs) work with the YBTS team to nurture further outreach. Demo plots, which are managed by key farmers, facilitate learning and hands-on practice in good agricultural practices for key farmers and neighboring farmers. Dedicated field teams of 3 Technical Field Officers (TFOs) will conduct intensive training on demo plots in each community cluster. The TFOs will be supported by CFTs to foster adoption and replication. CFTs, who are local farmers trained by YBTS to assist other farmers, help with monitoring demo plots and sharing information more widely in the communities.
- Fostering adoption of best practices through in-person knowledge transfer activities such as field-based training, Farmer Field Days, and seed clinics, along with appropriate information services through social platforms and digital media. This element will be supported by TFOs and CFTs.
- Supporting market access for farmers by mediating and facilitating linkages to market players (village collectors, traders, etc.). Through the demo plots, key farmers and neighboring farmers will be exposed to a wide range of crops and varieties, the selection of which will be based on local market needs and potential demand. For this element, dedicated market access and linkages personnel will be hired to work from the first season until after the second or third season, when the relationships between the farmers and the collectors and traders will have already been formed.
Expected Outcomes
- 450 key farmers showcasing best practices in vegetable production on 500-square-meter demo plots for 2 to 3 seasons. By the end of the project, 280 key farmers are expected to earn an additional income of IDR 10,000,000 (EUR 600) per year from vegetable farming.
- 90 kitchen gardens (100 square meters each) established by women’s groups, with 50% of the harvest being consumed by family members and the remainder sold to supplement family income.
- 6,750 trained farmers, with at least 4,000 beginning to apply good agricultural practices (seedling nurseries, land preparation/raised beds, crop management, etc.) to their own farms. These farmers are expected to achieve a 20% higher yield on average and an additional income of IDR 5,000,000 (EUR 300) per year by the end of the project.
- 1,620 seed clinic visitors, at least 1,000 of which will connect with a TFO or key farmer to learn improved vegetable production practices through the demo plots.
- 1,620 farmers trained during Farmer Field Days, at least 1,000 of whom will connect with a TFO or key farmer to learn improved vegetable production practices through the demo plots.
- 100,000 people in Papua reached through social media activities, especially via the YBTS Facebook page.
YBTS Partners
Funding partners: De Eik Foundation and East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation
Project Period
1 July 2024 – 30 June 2027
Location
West Papua and Southwest Papua provinces
This project is supported by De Eik Foundation and East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation and is implemented by Yayasan Bina Tani Sejahtera.
