Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains in Indonesia (SASCI+)
Promoting local structures, protecting sensitive ecosystems and providing access to global markets in the Indonesian district of West Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, Lampung, East Kalimantan, West Java.
The project at glance
Indonesia is home to large tracts of rainforest of global relevance, hosting unique biodiversity and playing a crucial role in regulating the global climate. Agricultural commodities like coffee, cocoa, natural rubber, or palm oil play an important role for rural development, with 30% of the population depending on agriculture.
Coffee, cocoa, palm oil, and natural rubber are often perceived as drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. With consuming markets and multinational companies strengthening their efforts to eliminate deforestation and human rights abuses from the supply chain, the sustainability of raw material is becoming a precondition for market access. Many farming households are struggling to meet their basic needs, much less to invest in sustainable production practices for securing future supply.
By increasing the sustainable production of agricultural commodities and strengthening downstream processing and market linkages, the project aims to increase the farmers’ incomes, safeguard natural resources, and establish deforestation-free supply chains. SASCI+ works in key production landscapes, aligning relevant stakeholders on shared objectives for sustainable production as a means for long-term market access and security of supply.
Project implementation
SASCI+ focuses on natural rubber, palm oil, cocoa, and coffee supply chains in West Kalimantan (Kapuas Hulu Biosphere Reserve and Sanggau District), Central Sulawesi (Lore Lindu Biosphere Reserve), Lampung, West Java, and East Kalimantan. In conducting its activities, SASCI+ works together with the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture as its Political Partner as well as district and provincial governments in target areas.
The project works in three fields of action:
Field of action: Sustainable supply chains and production landscapes
- Fostering inclusive partnerships between lead companies and producers of sustainable agricultural commodities
- Improve farm data availability and management for traceability and regulatory compliance
- Facilitate Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships to align interests on economic, environmental and social development targets
- Strengthen regulatory framework and enabling environment to promote sustainable production landscapes
Field of action: Local value added
- Encourage organization of farmers for economies of scale, their representation and an improved role in the supply chain
- Capacity building on value addition, quality standards and international market requirements
- Investments in post-harvest processing for quality and efficiency improvements
Field of action: Sustainable production practices
- Capacity development on sustainable farming practices and climate resilience
- Increase the availability of high-quality farm inputs
- Trainings on farming as a business and financial literacy to promote investment in sustainable production
Partners and collaborators
SASCI+ works with a variety of partners in its implementation, including:
- rural and forest communities in production landscapes of high conservation value;
- district, provincial and national government agencies in charge of promoting sustainable agricultural production, forest protection and land use planning; and
- committed companies, procuring sustainably produced agricultural commodities, including: MARS Inc, OFI and JBCocoa in the cocoa supply chain; ECOM/ Indocafco and Nestlé in the coffee supply chain; Nestlé, McDonalds, PepsiCo and Barry Callebaut also collaborate in the palm oil supply chain; Continental, Halcyon and Southland in the rubber supply chain.
Being a farmer also means taking care of the environment. If the forest is barren, it can lead to floods, and that will devastate the community. That’s why we formed the Wanoja Farmer Group—because women should be able to support themselves. Women need to be independent and be able to help themselves. Thankfully, our farmer group, Wanoja, was able to collaborate with GIZ. It gave us new insights on how to better care for the plants. We also became more aware of the importance of protecting the ecosystem.
On farm level, SASCI+ has supported more than 25,000 farmers training them in a variety of topics, such as good agricultural practices (GAP), compliance with certification schemes, EUDR readiness, farmer cooperative establishments, finance skills, and agroforestry.
- Key results for farmers have been: Around 93% of trained people, mostly farmers, confirmed an increase in new skills, knowledge, and competencies for their farming business.
- The average yields for supported farmers have improved by 29% and tripled the average income from their main crop.
- Over 15,000 farmers now are better prepared to face the challenges of climate change on their farms and have increased their resilience.
Below are some examples of how SASCI+ introduced change to local smallholder farmers and has since improved the quality and production of their crops, increased their incomes, and established partnerships with the local government and private sector:
Traceable, EUDR-Compliant Rubber from Kapuas Hulu
In Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan, smallholder farmers produced low quality wet natural rubber and sold them to middlemen at low prices, with missing linkages to end buyers and processors SASCI+ providedtrainings and traceablity tools which upskilled the farmers to produce high quality and sustainable dry rubber, sell directly to rubber processors for a better price and use a traceability tool supporting deforestation-free supply chains and EUDR compliance Thisis an essential tool for companies committing to deforestation-free supply chains. The project also linked farmers to district/provincial governments, ensuring policy support for a sustainable landscape. Farmers now receive premium prices, and traceability and transparency are ensured along the supply chain. The high-quality rubber also enables buyers to launch a traceable MTB tyre on the German market with controls to avoid deforestation and ensure EUDR legality.
Back then, rubber farmers here still made rubber traditionally using containers from used coconut shells, plastic bottles and pesticide cans. If we use this rubber in bamboo, the price is better, the quality is good, and it dries quickly. The container doesn’t pollute the environment, and with good quality. People have come to know this rubber in bamboo as the German rubber now. I hope the price of rubber can remain stable, so that the farmers become more prosperous.
A Multi-Stakeholder Forum for Sustainable Plantations in East Kutai
In East Kutai, East Kalimantan, there used to be no mechanism for collaborative action on sustainable plantation planning. The official indicative of High Conservation Values (HCV) areas did not cover areas outside of palm oil concessions and HCV management capacity as well as coordination of district data, legal land titles, and sustainability certification of smallholder farmers were limited. In response, a multi-stakeholder forum was institutionalised and HCV areas were mapped and legalised. The project provided trainings for farmers, supported the organisation and certification of farmer cooperatives and developed a monitoring and data collection system. As a result, an additional area of 7,840 hectares for HCV protection was identified in 5 priority villages. A total of 33 private sector companies actively participated and engaged to share on the objectives and implementation of the joint HCV management plan. More than 1,200 farmers with over 4,400 hectares of farmland were mapped to ensure tenurial, legality, and ownership. Nine smallholder farmer cooperatives with over 1,500 members were established, improving management capacity, organized work areas, and developing partnerships with palm oil companies.
Moving forward, SASCI+ will continue to collaborate closely with key stakeholders from the public and private sector to promote sustainability in agricultural supply chains. Embedding learnings from project implementation into the regulatory framework and company practices is key for sustainable transformation.
Key milestones for upcoming years will be:
- GAP training for producers of natural rubber in West Kalimantan;
- Intensification of the promotion of landscape initiatives in East Kalimantan (MSF FORMIKA) and Central Sulawesi (Biosphere Lore Lindu);
- Expansion of the project target group in West Kalimantan/natural rubber and Central Sulawesi/cocoa.
- Strengthening the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion- GESI approach for cocoa producers in Central Sulawesi and coffee producers in Lampung;
- Focus on training curricula Farmer Field School and Farmer Business School Creditor Reporting System code and climate change adaptation.
- Intensification of cooperation with public authorities on sustainable traceability systems and support for smallholder farmers.
- Agreements with the private and public sectors for sustainable landscape strategies and protection