Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)

ACIAR is an Australian Government statutory authority that operates as part of Australia's Aid Program within the portfolio of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It contributes to the aid program objectives of advancing Australia's national interest through poverty reduction and sustainable development.

Established by the Australian Government to encourage and support research into agricultural problems of developing countries in fields where Australia has specific expertise -- It does this by commissioning collaborative projects between Australian and developing countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, China, India, and Thailand. ACIAR's role is to initiate and develop new projects, to provide funds for research, monitor the progress of each project, and communicate research results to small-scale farmers.

ACIAR funds projects in crop and livestock sciences, fisheries, forestry, land and water resources and post harvest technology. It also commissions studies of economic and policy issues concerned with the management of agricultural systems and natural resources, and helps partner countries build their capacity to engage with the global marketplace.

ACIAR projects in Indonesia

Based at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, ACIAR has supported a program in Indonesia since 1983. In fact, Indonesia was one of ACIAR's first partner countries.

ACIAR's Indonesia program has a strong emphasis on agricultural research interventions to increase farmer and fisherfolk incomes, especially in eastern Indonesia. Projects aim to improve production systems for crops, livestock and forestry, to add value to Indonesian agricultural products and to develop export markets through greater emphasis on farming as agribusinesses.

Conservation of the resource base for agriculture will be assisted by research collaboration on aspects of crop, livestock and fish biological security, and through policy research that takes into account the implications of decentralisation for the sustainable management of livestock, fisheries, forestry and land resources.

In 2005, ACIAR commenced a range of short and medium-term training and technical projects to assist in fisheries and agricultural rehabilitation of the provinces of North Sumatera and Aceh, affected by the December 2004 Tsunami. Assistance will continue at least through the 2005-2009 period.

The country's proximity and strategic importance to Australia, and the large proportion of its population in poverty, mean that its prominence in ACIAR's program will continue. A key challenge for ACIAR and its partner agencies in Indonesia is to secure more practical outcomes for farming communities from what has been a considerable research investment. Several projects will focus on the utilisation of results from earlier projects. We will work with out Indonesian partners to involve end-users such as extension groups and the private sector during the development of research projects, to more closely integrate project personnel in project activities at the farming community level, and to integrate researchers and policymakers where appropriate.

The regional balance of investments is influenced by Australian comparative advantage and alignment with the Australian aid program. Eastern Indonesia (including Nusa Tenggara Timur, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Western Papua and Sulawesi) is the highest priority, although continued collaboration with research and development providers in Java, Bali and parts of Sumatra is important. In response to the December 2004 Tsunami, ACIAR will commission projects in affected provinces in Northern Sumatra. There is less Australian comparative advantage in Southern Sumatera, Kalimantan and Maluku.

ACIAR will encourage linkages between the research agencies in agriculture, forestry and fisheries and the policy / implementation directorate-generals in the same ministries where appropriate. Likewise, ACIAR will support linkages between the research capacity in Java and eastern Idnoensian and northern Sumatera adaptive research agencies and planning authorities.

Fisheries projects have had significant impacts (management of shrimp diseases, rehabilitation of degraded or unproductive shrimp ponds on acid sulfate soils, mariculture of high-value fish and crustaceans, restocking of depleted fisheries, management of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and monitoring and harmonised management of shared fish stocks). ACIAR will maintain a large fisheries program in Indonesia. In both fisheries and forestry programs there will be an increased emphasis on balancing environmental and employment issues at a regional level.

ACIAR also emphasises Indonesia in several projects in its multilateral program, delivered in conjunction with the international agricultural research centres, which include the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), and the International Potato Centre (CIP).

Indicative priorities

Priorities for collaborative agricultural research between Australia and Indonesia were discussed in August 2002 in Jakarta at a consultation between ACIAR and representatives of relevant Government Ministries and Agencies (including the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development and the Agency for Marine and Fisheries Research), universities, LIPI, the private sector and farmers' associations. Although not officially sanctioned priorities of the Government of Indonesia, they are priorities expressed by participants at the consultation, and ACIAR will use them as a reference when assessing project proposals. A full list of agreed priorities from the meeting is available at www.aciar.gov.au under Partner country priorities/Indonesia.

In eastern Indonesia, there are opportunities to capitalise on linkages between central research institutions (mainly based in Java) and location-specific adaptive research that directly addresses farmers' needs. To assist in fisheries and agricultural rehabilitation of the provinces of North Sumatra and Aceh, affected by the December 2004 Tsunami, ACIAR will make additional investments in Indonesia. ACIAR's role as a facilitator and funder of agricultural research and extension means that we have a greater role in the medium term rather than in the immediate crisis phase. However, the need to re-establish food production and livelihoods in the affected regions is urgent and a number of issues require technical inputs or evaluation. ACIAR will commission collaborative work to provide technical information to underpin longer term agriculture and fisheries reconstruction in some of the following areas:

• Assessment of the degree of salinisation and siltation of farmland and the demonstration of strategies to again utilise this land for farming;
• Assessment of the impact of Tsunami damage to reef systems and coastal habitats on likely fish stocks over the short, medium and long terms. This could include a science-based evaluation of the role of shoreline vegetation (including coconuts and mangroves) on the extent of tsunami damage to reefs, coastal fishery habitats and coastal agriculture;
• Re-establishment of coastal shrimp aquaculture and mariculture;
• Re-establishment of appropriate crop planting stock and of cropping systems;
• Re-development of small ruminant (goat) and possibly chicken production, including forage nurseries, access to livestock and re-establishment of animal housing.

More follow-up activities that enhance the transfer of technology of earlier ACIAR projects will be pursued, and opportunities for greater involvement of industry explored. In 2004-05, the collaborative program will emphasise animal health and production, crop protection, forestry, fisheries and agricultural policy economics.

Since 1983 over 143 projects have been completed in Indonesia. As of March 2005 there are 29 active projects in Indonesia plus an additional 24 new projects under various stages of development. The following is a reflection of Indonesia's projects by research program areas:

For further information, contact:

Ms. Amber Davidson
Country Manager
Phone: (62-21) 2550 5578
Fax: (62-21) 521 3322
E-mail: amber.davidson@dfat.gov.au

This page was last updated on 29 March 2005

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