2008 Annual Report English

ANNUAL REPORT 2008

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

1

Content 1

Cover

2

Contents

3

Foreword

4

About VECO

5

Summary

6

Sustainable Agriculture Chain Development

7

Advocacy

8

Consumer Awareness

9

Learning Organization

10 Achievements 11 Facts and Figures 12 Significant Events

2

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

VECO Indonesia Jl. Kerta Dalem No. 7, Sidakarya Denpasar - Bali 80224, Indonesia Phone: +62 (0)361-7808264, 727378 Fax: +62 (0)361-723217 Email: admin@veco-indonesia.net Website: www.veco-indonesia.net

Foreword

The year 2008 was a turbulent year in many different ways. The Food crisis that started in 2007 intensified during 2008. In Indonesia food prices rose by 50-80% for many commodities like rice, soja and cooking oil causing a restless population and several protests.

Prices stabilized and eased somewhat during the second half of the year but remained at a considerably higher level than a year before. From September this was easily overtaken by the global financial crisis with increasing unemployment rates and a banking sector in trouble in Indonesia. The effects of this crisis luckily are not very profound for small-holder family farmers because they mostly rely on local markets income wise. However, unfair market access and insufficient negotiating power of these farmers continued to marginalize farmer’s profits.

For VECO Indonesia it was a year of many changes for the organization and for its programme. A reorganization within VECO Indonesia was prepared to match the challenges of the new programme with the human capacities needed. Several new positions were

created and the organizational structure was adapted.

This resulted in a gradual change of positions of staff members but also the appearance of several new faces in VECO Indonesia. It was also decided to open four field offices in our working areas in Flores, Sulawesi and Jakarta. This already resulted in the opening of the first office in Jakarta and preparations for other offices opened in February 2009.

During 2008 the new six year strategic programme of VECO Indonesia was launched: “Sustainable Agriculture Chain Development for small family farmers in Eastern Indonesia in partnership with civil society”.

This programme is built on four pillars: sustainable agriculture chain development, advocacy practices, promotion of consumer awareness, expertise building & exchange.

The work of VECO Indonesia can only be successful through good cooperation with national and local government agencies, development organizations & corporate sector, and last but not least NGO’s, Networks and Farmer Organizations that we support.

In this publication an illustration of the results that were achieved during 2008 are presented. Also an overview of some important activities and relevant figures are presented. We have done our best to make reading both pleasant and interesting for our readers. I hope you enjoy it!

Rogier Eijkens Regional Representative VECO Indonesia

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

3

About VECO Indonesia

Vredeseilanden Country Office (VECO) Indonesia is one of seven regional offices of Vredeseilanden, a non-governmental organisation headquartered in Belgium. Besides Indonesia, Vredeseilanden also works in West and East Africa, South and Central America and in Southeast Asia. In each of these continents, Vredeseilanden has, since the 1970s, pursued one ambition: improving the livelihood of poor farmers.

To achieve this ambition, VECO Indonesia teams up with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), farmers’ organisations, national network organisations, the private sector, and organised farmers through three core programmes: sustainable agriculture chain development, advocacy and consumer awareness. VECO Indonesia also strives continually to be a learning organisation. Thus, learning and information exchange are important to VECO Indonesia.

4

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

Through approaches that are being continually developed, VECO Indonesia empowers farming families in all aspects of the agriculture chain, from production to consumption. VECO Indonesia supports agriculture chain development, focuses on sustainable agriculture production innovations, adds value to sustainable agriculture products that benefit farming families, improves farmers’ access to markets, and encourages consumers to consume sustainable agriculture products.

VECO Indonesia also supports advocacy at the local and national levels to improve the policy environtment benefitting farming families that practice sustainable agriculture.

The regional VECO Indonesia office is in Denpasar (Bali) and a field office is established in Jakarta (Java).

Summary

2008 was a year of change for VECO Indonesia, including the structure of the organisation and its core programmes. This year, VECO Indonesia decided to change its structure to better suit the targets of the programmes it runs. A new position, Advocacy and Consumer Awareness Coordinator, has been added to supplement the Sustainable Agriculture Chain Development (SACD) coordination. We have set up a new office in Jakarta to better focus on an issue we have long been involved in: pro-small holder farmer policy advocacy.

At the programme level, VECO Indonesia has begun to focus on SACD as an integrated approach. This approach links all downstream and upstream processes, from production, processing, and marketing to consumption of sustainable agriculture products. VECO Indonesia focuses on five commodities: cocoa, coffee, cashew, peanuts, and rice.

In 2008, VECO Indonesia concluded its cooperation with 10 NGOs it had been working with. In general the VECO Indonesia support included building the

capacity of farmers in the cashew chain, establishing cooperative marketing, and building dialogue between stakeholders.

VECO Indonesia network organisations at the local and national level are strategic partners in creating propoor farmer policy. At the national level, for example, VECO Indonesia optimised farmer networks and farmer organisations such as Koalisi Rakyat untuk Kedaulatan Pangan (KRKP) and Aliansi Petani Indonesia (API) to advocate on the setting of rice prices. Joint advocacy activities are also carried out towards realising food sovereignty in Indonesia.

2008 was a positive year for VECO Indonesia in terms of promoting consumption of sustainable agriculture products. In cities such as Solo, Central Java; Denpasar, Bali; and Flores, sustainable agriculture product consumer groups have started to emerge. Although the number of consumers involved are still small, the emerging of these groups gives us hope that a growing movement of ethical consumers is possible in the future.

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

5

Agriculture Chain Development for Coffee Coffee farmers in Bajawa, Ngada District, Flores, East Tenggara Timur were once evicted by the government because their land was deemed to be in a nature reserve. Today, local farmers produce coffee that is exported to the United States. In 2008, members of the Famasa coffee farmer group in Watuata nature reserve reached their production target of 100 tons. This is a major achievement for the coffee farmers supported

by Lembaga Advokasi dan Penguatan Masyarakat Sipil (Lapmas) Ngada.

Coffee is an important agricultural commodity in this area. Local farmers have been learning about aspects

of coffee chain development including processing and marketing. Through the Famasa group, the farmers have learned about coffee marketing, from purchase price through selling price. Today they are skilled at calculating the profit and loss from the sale of coffee. The farmers are able to negotiate prices with PT Indocom, with facilitation from the Ngada District Plantation Agency.

Marketing their produce on a wider scale has improved the standard of living of local farmers. Their children are able to pursue education to a higher level, they earn higher incomes and they have better housing. “Being able to market our produce at fair prices not only motivates us to farm, but has also improved our lives,� says Vinsensius Loki, Chair of UPH Famasa.

The main activity carried out by VECO Indonesia in 2008 was Participatory Agricultural Chain Assessment (PACA), to identify local core commodities and how their marketing chains work. PACA performed in Tana Toraja, East Flores, Sikka and Ende, Boyolali and Malang, and West Timor have clarified the core commodities, the roles of each of the actors, and the commitment of those involved in marketing at the district level.

6

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

Advocacy for Peanuts

With 2,250 farmer members, Bituna Association in North Central Timor District is a reference when it comes to setting peanut prices in this area. Bituna is an association of three large ethnic groups in Timor: Bikomi, Tunbaba, and Naiveno. The association consists of alliances of 347 farmer groups in four sub-districts who farm around 300 hectares of land.

This association is a media for disseminating information about marketing agricultural products. Peanuts are the core commodity of farmers in this dry region. Farmers also grow candlenuts, tamarind and cashew. “The association is the door for setting peanut prices,” says Baselius Kolo, Bituna Association Chair. It has also improved the farmers’ bargaining position vis-à-vis the middlemen who had previously controlled prices.

level they pleased.” Today, the association not only negotiates prices, but also calibrates the weights used at the time of purchase. Before the association was set up, peanut prices in this area ranged between IDR 6,500 and IDR 7,000. Today, the price is IDR 8,500 per kilo. Peanut production is now 172 tons a year.

Advocacy at the local level also takes the form of farmers’ involvement in preparation of medium-term village development plans that integrate agriculture chain development. At the national level, VECO Indonesia advocacy is carried out through network organisations such as Aliansi Petani Indonesia (API) and Koalisi Rakyat untuk Kedaulatan Pangan (KRKP).

In general, these local and national organisations advocate for pro poor farmer policy through lobby, mediation and action.

“Before the association was established,” continued Baselius, “peanut buyers set prices at whatever

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

7

Healthy Rice for Consumers Nuraini, a mother of two, first switched to organic rice when she was diagnosed with diabetes. “I wanted to take care of my health by avoiding rice contaminated by pesticides,” explains Nuraini, a member of staff at the Faculty of Agriculture at Tunas Pembangunan University, Solo. Like Nuraini, a growing number of consumers are switching to sustainable agriculture products. Nuraini not only consumes sustainable agriculture products, she also sells organic rice at her kiosk.

Nuraini’s kiosk is just one of five similar outlets in Solo, Central Java. As well as selling goods, they also provide information about sustainable agriculture products.

These information units are a part of the Lembaga Studi Kemasyarakatan dan Bina Bakat (LSKBB) consumer awareness programme, designed to encourage people to consume sustainable agriculture products. In Solo, consumer awareness is also raised through women groups, Muslim boarding schools, and other groups.

Similar programmes are also run in Denpasar, Bali, by the Bali Organic Association (BOA) and in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, by Yayasan Komodo Lestari (Yakines) through the civil servants’ association Dharma Wanita. This organic agricultural product campaign is run through kiosks that sell organic products. The campaign is also promoted through publications in the printed and electronic mass media, exhibitions, and public talks. Three strategies adopted here are information dissemination through women’s groups, meetings between farmers and consumers, and field visits by consumers to locations where organic products are grown.

8

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

Towards Learning Partnership As VECO Indonesia staff, Peni Agustiyanto has learned a lot about cocoa and coffee. Coffee is a core commodity in Tana Toraja, which, along with Mamasa District, is a VECO Indonesia programme location in South Sulawesi.

Both are not a new commodities for Peni, but he is keen to learn more.

Peni’s enthusiasm about learning reflects VECO Indonesia’s spirit as a learning organisation. VECO Indonesia is concerned not only with its partners and beneficiaries, but is also ensuring that, internally, it continues to be a learning organisation. To this end, VECO Indonesia staff learning continually, using a range of media.

Learning takes place, among others, through staff capacity building on cocoa, peanuts, cashew, and other commodities. For cocoa, this learning involves training in post-harvest management, making cocoa demonstration plots in villages, Participatory Agriculture Chain Assessment (PACA) workshops, field visits to the Mars and Toarco companies processing factories,

and participating in routine meetings of the Cocoa Sustainability Partnership (CSP), of which VECO Indonesia is a member.

In 2008, we introduced Badan Belajar Bersama, a six-monthly joint learning forum for VECO Indonesia staff and involved visiting a cocoa processing projects.

VECO Indonesia also shares these learning experiences with a broader audience, through publications, workshops and other media. VECO Indonesia works in cooperation with ILEIA to publish the quarterly magazine SALAM, which focuses on low external input for sustainable agriculture (LEISA). In 2008, VECO Indonesia published four editions of SALAM, as well as books and reports of studies conducted by VECO Indonesia and its partners. Our hope is that all of these materials can be used as media for learning and sharing experiences.

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

9

Achievements

2008 was an important year for food sovereignty action in East Nusa Tenggara, one of the Indonesian provinces where food insecurity is a recurring problem. In October 2008, important stakeholders in East Nusa Tenggara including the provincial house of representatives, the food security agency, several district leaders, farmers’ representatives, and NGOs signed the Maumere Declaration and East Nusa Tenggara Action Plan produced at the 2008 Food Summit. VECO Indonesia was one of the initiators and organisers of this summit.

One of the main points in the Maumere Declaration is that all stakeholders will work together to reduce hunger, food insecurity, and poverty in East Nusa Tenggara. The declaration also includes an action plan, among others, to facilitate development of collective rice storage, government food reserves, farmers’ markets, and initiatives to protect farmers’ products.

The Maumere Declaration is a step forward towards achieving food sovereignty in East Nusa Tenggara.

Another achievement for VECO Indonesia was the completion of the Organisational Change Assessment

10

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

(OCA), which forms the basis for organisational changes. Internally, these changes were necessery because they also mark a shift in programme focus.

The OCA is a part of the integrated change in VECO Indonesia. In 2008, VECO Indonesia also began setting up a field office in Jakarta to optimise its advocacy and network programmes.

The formation of multi-stakeholder platforms in several programme locations, including for coffee in Lumajang, rice in Boyolali, and cocoa in Sulawesi, was another achievement in 2008. Government, the private sector, farmers NGOs and academics make up the memberships of these forums. They form the basis for further steps to help farmers get fair prices and to promote the adoption of pro-small holder farmer agricultural policy.

In 2008, VECO Indonesia also began developing a planning, learning and accountability (PLA) system as a media for learning and for monitoring and evaluating programme progress.

Facts and Figures VECO Indonesia Budget, 2008

DONOR

RP

%

11,724,124,594

65%

CORDAID

1,522,753,097

8%

MISEREOR

1,478,950,000

8%

NOVIB

2,426,774,935

13%

ILEIA

630,076,655

3%

Others

297,201,721

2%

18,079,881,002

100%

DGOS

Total grant

Partners and Farmers In 2008, VECO Indonesia worked with 12 partner NGOs supporting farmers in five programme locations: Java, East and West Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi. A first focus of the programme is to improve economies through sustainable agriculture chain development.

VECO Indonesia worked in 11 districts with a total of 12,842 farmers, including 7,700 men and 5,142 women, on the core commodities of rice, coffee, cocoa, cashew and peanuts. A second focus of the programme is to strengthen the position of farmers through advocacy.

VECO Indonesia reached 17,236 farmers, including 12,136 men and 5,100 women.

Publications and Workshops In 2008, VECO Indonesia produced 15 publications including the SALAM magazine, booklets, videos, the Annual Report, the LONTAR newsletter, comics and technical books. Partners also published 10 publications with support from VECO Indonesia. In 2008, VECO Indonesia organised six different workshops and training on entrepreneurship, the rice chain, outcome mapping, consumer awareness, and development of small-scale agriculture.

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

11

Significant Events In 2008, VECO Indonesia organised several events with its partners, and was involved in national and international networks. Following is a summary of major events that took place during the year.

IIED Workshop On 12-14 November, 2008, VECO Indonesia organised a workshop on Inclusion of Small Producers in Value Chains: From Field Evidence to Action, in Sanur, Bali. This event, organised by VECO Indonesia in collaboration with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Cordaid, aimed to promote the involvement of small farmers in marketing agricultural products.

Workshop Consumer Awareness In order to design a consumer awareness campaign strategy to promote consumption of organic products, VECO Indonesia held a programme strategy design workshop on 23-24 September 2008. Attending

12

Annual Report :: VECO Indonesia :: 2008

the workshop nect to VECO programme were VECO Indonesia’s three main partners in the consumer awareness programme, Jaker PO, Lembaga Studi Kemasyarakatan dan Bina Bakat (LSKBB), and Bali Organic Association.

ILEIA International Editor Meeting VECO Indonesia, as managers of SALAM magazine, hosted the annual ILEIA international editor meeting.

Attending the meeting in May 2008 in Sanur, Denpasar were ILEIA members from China, India, Senegal, Peru, Brazil and the Netherlands.

Regional Learning Initiative (RELI) In April 2008, VECO Indonesia hosted the Regional Learning Initiative (RELI) for VECO programmes in Asia, including Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos. The topic of discussion at this joint learning activity was sustainable agriculture chain development (SACD) and the cooperation with the private sector.