Livelihood Empowerment through Agro-forestry (LEAF) in Southern Sumatra

22-0806-08

Project Profile     

This project will improve the livelihood of marginalized community adjacent to forests areas in Southern Sumatra. A total of 450 original families in Southern Sumatra will be supported with 900 goats, 450 hair sheep, 30,000 of fingerlings, 100 packages of honey bees, and 990 kg horticulture seeds. An additional 900 needy families will be assisted through passing on the gift scheme.

Trainings will be provided both technical and non-technical trainings. Technical trainings will include livestock management, aquaculture, apiculture, organic farming, and water monitoring. Meanwhile non-technical trainings will include Heifer’s cornerstones and holistic community development model; marketing and entrepreneurship, gender; and social analysis. Farmers community will be empowered through activation and effective function of farmers self-help group (SHG).

Heifer International Indonesia will collaborate local NGOs, local governments and others services providers will provide technical support for this project.

Background and History of Project Holder

Heifer International Indonesia has worked in Indonesia since 1982 by providing support for various livestock based livelihood empowerment for rural poor. Heifer International Indonesia developed partnerships with local organizations, which provided social mobilization to communities. The country office was established in 1997, with focused on ten provinces on Sumatra Island. The island has a population of 50 million in ten provinces. Heifer Indonesia was legally registered as a branch of an international NGO after signing the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Agriculture and Heifer International in December 2003

Heifer International Indonesia is committed to values based planning and development. It uses a holistic development approach in its program. This means that the impact of support given to community such as livestock resources, horticulture and trainings will be holistic. This is supported by internalization of Heifer’s Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development.

Support provided to community includes livestock such as goats, cattle, water buffalo, bees, sheep, fish, chickens, ducks, quail, and pigs. In addition the program focuses on empowerment of small farmers and farmers groups through trainings and education.

All current projects are integrating gender concern since Heifer Indonesia has embarked its gender mainstreaming strategy.

Local Conditions & Opportunities for Assistance

Indonesia is the home of one of the most magnificent tropical forests in the world. In 2005, more than 30 million people (out 220 million) depended directly on the forestry sector for their livelihood. However, since 1950-2004, more than 40 % (from 162 million hectares to 95 million hectares) of Indonesia’s forests have been cleared for various purposes. The government has acknowledged that the average annual deforestation rate in Indonesia reached 2.8 million hectares from 1998 to 2002.

In Sumatra Island, deforestation was intense. Between 1985 and 1997, more than 7 million hectares forest disappeared. As a result, many rural inhabitants near the forest lost their livelihood sources. Not only did they lose livelihood sources but deforestation also led to decrease of water resources and intense seasonal flooding.

Poverty is a serious problem in Southern Sumatra. The poverty rate in Southern Sumatra is 21.57 %, which is higher than national poverty rate of 16.66 %. Most poor families are farmer families who live in rural areas. In The province of South Sumatra, 28 % of the rural inhabitants are classified as poor compared to 15.57 % of those in urban areas.

The official measurement of poverty in Indonesia based on the basic needs approach based on consumption module, equal to Rp 180,000 (about 20 USD) per month. The poverty percentage will be much higher if the measurement were $2 USD per day.

Poor farmers are more vulnerable. They are excluded from various public services such as health care. They also lack of access to financial resources such as credit services by the government or commercial banks. As a result, their livelihood is impacted not only because of deforestation but also insufficient access to support and infrastructure.

The lack of education opportunities for small farmers often results in lack of skills and knowledge of agriculture technology in crop management. Often the technology they use is not ecologically friendly. They are trapped in using mass chemical inputs which degrades the quality of soil and water. The farmers often utilize slash and burn practices for land clearing prior to crops cultivation. Though it is not the main cause of deforestation, the forest destruction as a result of farming practices is still significant.

Opportunities for Assistance

Small farmers in Southern Sumatra, as in other provinces of Indonesia, depend on mixed farming for their livelihood. Growing multiple cash and food crops as well as raising livestock is common practices in these areas.

This project will support the poor farmers surrounding forest areas in the province of South Sumatra and Lampung by providing integrated crops and livestock. Poor farmers will be supported with horticulture, goat and fishes. The community will be supported to conserve environment by practicing agro ecology practices.

To ensure productivity of livestock, they will actively participate in field based trainings on effective and appropriate forage and animal health management. The families will receive local timber seeds, mangrove, horticulture seeds like vegetables and corn to strengthen the organic farming and conservation practice.

They will actively participate in trainings on agro forestry, aquaculture, apiculture, horticulture gardening, integrated pest management, and compost making process, according to their need. To support level of achievement program, project participants will be trained in Heifer’s Cornerstones, holistic community development, marketing analysis, post harvest processing, community organizing, and human nutrition. These activities will support the sustainable livelihood of families by increasing their regular income thereby to enhance their children’s access to educational services and to enhance their nutritional status. Coordination, consultation, and meetings between the community and local governments will also take place.

All farmers will be empowered through effective function of Self-Help Group (SHG). All SHG will have regular meeting, training and saving and credit scheme.

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