CONTEXT
The GRASS project, which is a follow-on project to the previous "Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains in Indonesia - SASCI" and builds on the results and experience gained through this project, will be implemented in collaboration with the Directorate General of Estate Crops of the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture. The project aims to improve the livelihoods and resilience of smallholder farmers at the basis of global supply chains and will target independent estate crop smallholder farmers in Kapuas Hulu district, West Kalimantan province.
A main lesson from the predecessor project is that independent smallholder farmers in Kapuas Hulu who cultivate estate crops in monoculture on their entire farm plot (2 – 5 hectares), are extremely vulnerable to fluctuations in world market prices, pests and diseases, and impacts of climate change. As a result, the smallholder farmer livelihoods are not economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable. If the smallholder farmer livelihoods are not sustainable, then the entire global supply chain cannot be considered sustainable either. To mitigate the smallholder farmer vulnerability, it is necessary to diversify smallholder farm production to create more stable and robust production systems that are better adapted to the changing climate, that enhance the farm biodiversity, that increase the range of produce, and that are more resilient.
OBJECTIVE
The module objective is: The economic and environmental resilience of smallholder farmers at the base of global supply chains has improved in selected regions of Indonesia.
The project, which will focus on support to independent smallholder farm families who produce rubber, oil palm, cocoa, and/or coffee, must achieve the following indicator targets: (1) The agricultural income of 600 smallholder households has increased by an average of 15%; (2) 600 smallholder farmers, 150 of whom are women, have adopted two resilient and climate-smart agricultural practices; (3) The agricultural area on which sustainable cultivation methods are used by the supported smallholders has increased by 600 ha; and (4) Digital applications, e-learning formats, and other field-tested approaches to promote resilient smallholder agriculture were used by 500 agricultural actors inside and outside the target areas, 50 of whom con-firmed based on case studies that the ecological and economic resilience of their farms had been improved.
APPROACH
To increase the resilience of estate crop smallholder farmers to negative external impacts, e.g., from global market price fluctuations or from impacts of climate change, the project will advise, and strengthen the capacity of, the targeted smallholder farmers in aspects of sustainable and climate-smart agricultural practices, including integrated farming, intercropping/agroforestry, permaculture, and regenerative farming. Agricultural extension staff from the government, civil society, and private sector will be targeted to include the aspects of resilience and sustainability in their support of smallholder estate crop farmers. The project approach will include the use of field-tested e-learning and blended learning formats for sustainable, resilient, and climate-smart smallholder agriculture, and will actively promote successful concepts and approaches at the provincial and national levels.
RESULTS
The project objective shall be achieved through the production of four main outputs: (1) The skills of smallholder farmers and agricultural advisors for the implementation of resilient smallholder agriculture have improved; (2) Smallholder farmers' market access to local and global supply chains has improved; (3) Proven concepts for resilient smallholder agriculture and deforestation-free supply chains are available to local and provincial government authorities for development- and spatial planning; and (4) Field-tested approaches to promote the resilience of smallholder farmers are available for upscaling.