Wageningen University & Research (WUR) continues its activities to improve vegetable production and to strengthen private sector development in Indonesia. A two-year program funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta succeeds the vegIMPACT program that finished in 2017. The new vegIMPACT NL program will be officially launched during the Wageningen Indonesian Network Exposure Scientific Meeting 2018 in Bogor, Indonesia, July 6th.
Vegetable production is still low in Indonesia and lags behind the demand of the increasing number of urban consumers. In collaboration with Indonesian and Dutch companies and the Indonesian Government vegIMPACT NL will train 30,000 farmers, develop and implement innovations in vegetable systems, and upgrade the green vocational education and training system in Indonesia.
The vegetable sector in Indonesia is dominated by small farmers with limited technical knowledge and skills. In collaboration with the private sector 30,000 vegetable farmers will receive training on good agricultural practices in vegIMPACT NL. WUR will build the capacity of trainers from various Indonesian and Dutch companies that use their network to reach out to farmers. The farmer trainings are aimed to increase crop yields, reduce production costs and improve farmer income for more sustainable vegetable production. In addition, social media like Facebook and the vegetable app MyAgri will be used to disseminate knowledge and information to farmers. The app MyAgri has been developed by Balai Penelitian Tanaman Sayur, the Indonesian Vegetable Research Institute, together with WUR.
Innovations
VegIMPACT NL will support, with research and development activities, two recent innovations related to starting material, i.e. seed potatoes and true shallot seed. Imports of potato (products) have dramatically increased in Indonesia over the past few years. Private sector initiatives have started to reduce the dependency on imports by introducing new potato varieties for processing purposes and improving the availability of high quality seed potatoes for farmers. VegIMPACT NL will support the development of this new seed potato value chain including training of professionals on storage, selection and sorting, and crop management.
Shallots are the second major vegetable crop in Indonesia and a crucial food item in the traditional diet. Currently, shallot production is mainly based on the planting of farmer-saved bulbs. Productivity can be considerably increased when farmers switch to systems based on disease-free true shallot seeds. This new system will be fine-tuned and optimized according local conditions for wide-scale uptake by farmers. Special attention is also on the post-harvest losses in different shallot chains.
Vocational education and training
A decreasing agricultural labour force and a shortage of well-prepared and skilled human resources are a great barrier for both the private sector and public sector to develop the vegetable sector in Indonesia. The support of the green vocational education and training (VET) system is based on the request of the Indonesian Government to the Government of the Netherlands.
In 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding between both Governments was signed that agreed on agricultural cooperation and capacity building in agriculture. Two schools in Subang and Jember have been chosen as pilot models. The objective of the Indonesia-Dutch Programme is to use Dutch knowledge and expertise to improve VET in horticulture for preparing competent graduates that fit labour market needs. Empowering vocational schools, students, farmers and industry will stimulate economic development in Indonesia.
For more information;
For more information;
Huib Hengsdijk
Tel: +31 317 480 559
E-mail: huib.hengsdijk@wur.nl