UNMET NEEDSREPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERSIN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA& WEST KALIMANTAN

// MAP OF INDONESIA

WEST KALIMANTANUNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// MAP OF INDONESIA
WEST PAPUA

PAPUA

// TABLE OF CONTENTSABOUT THE REPORT04

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

05

PAPUA

23

WEST PAPUA

51

WEST KALIMANTAN79

METHODOLOGY

115

BIBLIOGRAPHY

121

ABOUT KOPERNIK

126

// ABOUT THE REPORTKOPERNIK, SUPPORTED BY THE DAVID AND LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION,
IDENTIFIED THE NEEDS AND CHALLENGES CURRENTLY FACED BY
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN THE PROVINCES OF PAPUA, WEST PAPUA, AND
WEST KALIMANTAN. THE REPORT HIGHLIGHTS ISSUES FARMERS FACE TO
STAY COMPETITIVE IN AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS AND THE
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THEIR AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES.
As the main player in crop production and food supply industry, the needs of smallholder
farmers require attention and are critical to address. The Unmet Needs Report 2018:
Smallholder Farmers in Papua, West Papua, and West Kalimantan provides in-depth analysisof select commodities farmers harvest in the three provinces. Through this report, Kopernik
aims to identify, understand, and address the needs of smallholder farmers in the
agricultural value chain. It is an insightful reference for development actors who areinterested in tapping into agricultural-based activities in the three provinces.
This report focuses on the three provinces studied - Papua, West Papua, and West
Kalimantan - with each provincial chapter consisting of the following components:
Demographic overview
Overview of select commodities
Three-dimensional analysis of the select commodities

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARYWHY SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
Smallholder farmers cultivate subsistence crops and/or cash crops on smallplots of land. These farmers play an important part in the agricultural value
chain. They make up more than half of the total farmer households in Indonesia,
where agriculture contributes around 14% to its USD 932 billion economy(World Bank, 2016). Yet, despite their crucial role in providing food to the wider
population, smallholder farmers often earn modest incomes, partly due to alack of access to high-value market and minimum access to information on
current market demands.

WHERE IS THE STUDY CONDUCTED
The study is conducted in Papua, West Papua, and West Kalimantan where
agriculture is the dominant employment sector. It absorbs more than 50% of thetotal labor force. Yet, most of the smallholder farmers in these provinces still
make a modest living from farming activities, generating an average of USD 75
in monthly income.
An interview with a female farmer at her house in Keder village, Sarmi district, Papua

COMMODITIESPalm
RubberRice

WEST
KALIMANTANPAPUAWEST PAPUA

WHAT COMMODITIESThe research focuses on select commodities based on yield, numbers ofsmallholder farmers, and environmental impact. The report covers sevencommodities across the three provinces that are common for farmers tocultivate, with three cross-cutting commodities – coconut, palm, and rice.

Coconut
Sweet Potato
Cacao
Sago

05

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARYHOW FARMERS VALUE THEIR OWN COMMODITIESFrom our interviews, we find that each commodity has its uniqueeconomic value to farmers. Growing rice, for instance, supports farmers’
staple food supply. A certain proportion of their harvest is also sold to gain
economic benefit. Despite farmers’ low income, not all commodities aregrown or gathered for economic gains. To get a better understanding of
how these crops fulfill farmers’ needs, it is important to classify crops
based on two variables – (i) farming goals and (ii) cultivation method.

Fig 1. Crop classification by its type and purposes
Intensified Subsistence Crops
Rice (West Papua)

Intensified Cash Crops
Coconut (West Kalimantan)
Palm (West Kalimantan)
Cacao
RubberPalm (West Papua)

FARMING
Intensified Hybrid Crops
Sweet Potato
Rice (West Kalimantan)
A

C
B

Farming goals are defined by farmers’ intention to grow: in subsistence
farming, farmers’ intention to cultivate refers to consumption, while cash
crop farming is aimed to increase their income by selling agricultural
products.

SUBSISTENCE CROPS

The cultivation methods – farming and gathering – refer to the intensity oflabor in crop production. Farming refers to a structured method of
producing crops at scale. Starting from land preparation to harvesting, thiscultivation method indicates the significance of the commodity for farmers,
either in providing them with food supply or generating income. In contrast
to farming, gathering does not involve many steps. It does not include
farmers replanting crop at scale. The commodities in which yields aregathered are typically wildly grown. Gathering suggests that the crops arereadily available and easily found. Using a Venn diagram (see Fig. 1), we
develop six crop classifications in which the seven commodities can be
categorized.

Traditional Subsistence Crops

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANCASH CROPS

E
F

D

Traditional Hybrid
Crops
Sago
Traditional Cash Crops
Coconut (Papua)

GATHERINGTYPE

DESCRIPTION

A

Crops farmed using structured method of cultivation for self-consumption

B

Crops farmed using structured method of cultivation for self-consumption
and economic purpose

C

Crops farmed using structured method of cultivation for economic purpose

D

Crops gathered for self-consumption

E

Crops gathered for self-consumption and economic purpose

F

Crops gathered for economic purpose

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Our analysis shows that most of the commodities fall under type Cclassification, meaning they are grown through structured farming
methods for economic purpose. Palm in West Kalimantan, for instance,takes over 1.5 million hectares of land with a total yield of 2.1 million tons
a year. Given the average price of palm at USD 0.11/kg, though low as it
may seem, farmers are able to generate a steady income withcompetitive buyers in the market. The same principle applies to theother four commodities in this category: coconut (West Kalimantan),rubber, cacao, and palm (West Papua).
Sweet potato and rice (West Kalimantan) are categorized as type B,
meaning crops are farmed for self-consumption and also for sale.
Selling these crops is reasonable considering that both commodities
serve as staple food in the respective provinces.
Rice in Papua, on the other hand, is farmed only for self-consumption,
thus classified as type A crop. Farmers we interviewed explained that
this is due to traditional practices.
A crop that is gathered for self-consumption and economic returns issago, categorized as type E. Known as a staple food in West Papua;sago is a wildly grown commodity easily found in swampy areas.
Another commodity that is gathered is coconut (Papua). This too is awildly grown tree; however, the fruits are gathered solely to gain
economic returns – grouped as type F.
Former PTPN II palm plantation in Monokwari district, West Papua

07

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARYFARMER’S VOICE: CROSS-CUTTING CHALLENGES
RubberMarket information gap
Farmers have little information about theprices and demand for their crops in themarket. They tend to make transactions with
one trader or sell at one marketplace since
they do not have links to enter higher value
markets. More so than often, farmers do notknow where the crops go after selling andwhat are they processed into. This
information gap hinders farmers to become
a competitive player in the value chain.

Sago

Lack of financeFarmers ﬁnd it diﬃcult to maintain theirfarms given limited ﬁnancial resources.
Costly fertilizers and pesticides leadfarmers to apply an insuﬃcient ratio toplants, aﬀecting crop quality, and in turn
impinging on price. This leaves thefarmers with low competitiveness in the
agricultural value chain.

Unpredictable weather
Weather is found to be a common
challenge across the commodities in thisstudy. In rubber plantations, rain can ruin
the harvest by contaminating and washingaway the collected latex. Meanwhile, forrice cultivation, drought can critically harmthe crop given its need for water.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

Rice

Palm

Coconut

Cacao Sweet potato

Plant diseases and pest outbreaks
Plant diseases and pest outbreaks aresome of the most threatening issues
farmers have to deal with. Fungal infectious
disease (in rubber plantations) and mice (inrice cultivation) are a few mentioned by
farmers that can destroy their harvest andlead to crop failure. The farmers admitted
that they have little knowledge about theseissues and how to prevent them.

Lack of transportation
Many farmers do not have their own
transportation to carry crops to designatedmarkets. This is one of the reasons they rely
on traders who are willing to buy their crops
directly from the farms.

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
THE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES FEATURED IN THIS REPORT ARE ANALYZED FROM THREE MAIN ANGLES:LABOR EFFICIENCY (AGRICULTURE), FARMER INCOME (LIVELIHOOD), AND ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION(CONSERVATION)
Labor eﬃciency refers to the practice and steps taken by farmers incultivating crops. A low-eﬃciency rate would mean a crop is cultivatedusing intensive manual labor, and often times involve limited use of
agricultural machinery.

Fig 2. The three parameters used for each featured crop.
LABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)

Farmer income refers to the generated income (month/ha) from selling
harvested crops. A low-income rate from cultivating one crop would signal
a need for improving processing methods/technologies, growing alternate
crops, or intensiﬁcation.
Environment conservation refers to farmers’ practices in treating theirland for farming and plantation. It looks at the eﬀect of farming activities on
the environment (e.g., deforestation, biodiversity loss). A low environment
conservation value would signal that particular crop cultivation applies
irresponsible farming practices.

ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMER INCOME(Livelihood)

Table 1. Variable analyzed for each parameter.
VALUESPARAMETERS

VARIABLES OBSERVEDLOW (1)MEDIUM (2)

HIGH (3)Labor eﬃciency (Agriculture)

Manual labour in each stage of production(hours/day)Labor intensive(>4.1 hours of labor/day)

Medium intensity(3-4.1 hours of labor/day)

Minimum intensity(<3 hours of labor/day)

Farmer income (Livelihood)

Income/month/ha< IDR 1,000,000/month/ha

IDR 1,000,000-2,000,000/month/ha> IDR 2,000,000/month/haHigh practice of burning land
and using chemical substances

Moderate practice of burning land
and using chemical substances

Low (no) practice of burning land
and using chemical substances

Environment conservation (Conservation)

Air
Water

Soil
Biodiversity09

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARYLABOR EFFICIENCY:
UNDERSTANDING FARMERS’ INVESTMENT IN LABOR
Farming activities in the three provinces are labor intensive with minimum involvement of agricultural machinery to assist in the process. Basedon the data we collected, the intensity of labor diﬀers in each stage of production (pre-harvest, harvest, and post-harvest). As shown in Table 2,
we categorize the intensity of labor in three levels.
We deﬁne the stages of production involved in the commodity value chain as
follows

Box 1.1

The labor eﬃciency is categorized as follows:
Low: >4.1 hours of labor/day
Medium: 3 to 4.1 hours of labor/day
High: <3 hours of labor/day

Pre-harvest

Includes activities on the farm before harvesting crops.
Such as preparing and clearing land, seeding, planting,applying fertilizer and pesticides until plants are mature
enough to be harvested.

HarvestRefers to harvesting activity once crops are mature enoughPost-harvest

Consists of processing activities of the harvested crops
to reach the market or for self-consumption.

Table 2. Farmers’ labor eﬃciency in each stage of production (hours/day)

Provinces

West
Kalimantan

Papua &
West Papua

Commodity

Hours of work

Average

Overall laboreﬃciency value

Pre Harvest

HarvestPost -Harvest

Palm

5

4

3

4.0

Med

Rubber

4

3

5

4.0

Med

Rice

3

6

4

4.3

Low

Coconut

5

5

2

4.0

Med

Cacao

2

3

3

2.7

High

Sago

2

7

6

5.0

Low

Coconut

2

5

3

3.3

Med

Palm

2

2

0

1.3

High

Rice

8

4

2

4.6

Low

Sweet Potato

4

3

1

2.7

High

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARYLABOR EFFICIENCY:
UNDERSTANDING FARMERS’ INVESTMENT IN LABOR
Our analysis (table 2) shows that farmers invest
much of their labor during crop harvesting
In rice cultivation, a farmer can spend an average of
60 days to harvest 1 hectare of paddy ﬁeld. The
massive time and energy spent are largely due tothe traditional practice of harvesting – such as using
sickles as the main tool to cut rice plants.
Coconut also requires intensive labor during
harvesting as farmers must climb up trees and cut
oﬀ the fruits using cleavers. As for sago, harvesting
involves several steps, starting from clearing
branches and weeds to reach sago trees toprocessing them into starch.

Given the long hours of physical work and othercosts invested in these commodities, the crops
should be valued at fair rates. However, farmers
often experience unfair trading practices wherecrops are priced low.

Sago production in Maribu village, Jayapura district, Papua, requires several workers and is a labor intensive job.

11

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARYFARMER INCOME:
THE EFFECT OF LOW CROP PRICES ON FARMERS’ SUSTENANCE
The price of farmers’ agricultural products determines their level of earnings.
Looking at farmers’ bargaining position in the agricultural value chain, farmers –as the main producer and the first person in the value chain – are economicallydisadvantaged given their raw goods are relatively low in value.
As shown in Fig. 3, traders often set low prices when buying directly from farmers.
This is partly due to farmers’ lack of information on market price, their
homogenous network, and low quality of crops.

Each stakeholder in the chain gets its share no matter what
price the crops originated from farmers. However, this alsomeans that the longer the chain, the smaller fraction of theprice gets paid to the farmers. The price of crops is often justenough to cover the production cost, and the farmers receive
only enough to get by. Consequently, many farmers have toﬁnd additional work in other sectors (e.g., construction) to makeends meet.

Traders charge the retailer, say, 20% higher for a kilogram of rice to cover service
costs such as porters and transportation. The retailer then charges the consumer
35% higher than the price paid to the trader to pay oﬀ packaging and other costs.
Fig 3. Typical value chain in agricultural crops*

SMALLHOLDER FARMERS

PRE-HARVESTHARVEST**Value added:

STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN
POSTHARVEST-TRADER

20%

RETAILERCONSUMER

35%* Refers to rice value chain. **Percentage of the prices charged by an actor to the next actor in the value chain.
It is calculated by subtracting the price goods sold with the price goods bought.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARYFARMER INCOME:
THE EFFECT OF LOW CROP PRICE ON FARMERS’ SUSTENANCE
What becomes a concern is if the challenges for farmers continue and farmers decide to leave the agricultural sector. This will disrupt
agricultural sustainability and food supply in the regions. Therefore, in order to sustain agricultural development, it is crucial to consider
farmers’ wellbeing by providing better crop prices that commensurate farmers’ work in the field. This way farmers no longer are thedisadvantaged link in the value chain. The value chain becomes eﬃcient, all stakeholders involved can beneﬁt from it and livelihoods are
improved. Table 3 below shows the average income of smallholder farmers we interviewed in each commodity. A majority of them earn a low
income.
Table 3. Farmers’ income by commodity

Provinces

West Kalimantan

Papua & West Papua

Commodity

Farmer income

Palm

High

Rubber

Med

Rice

Low

Coconut

Med

Cacao

Low

Sago

Med

Coconut

Low

Palm

Low

Rice

Low

Sweet PotatoHigh

Description
Low = < IDR 1,000,000
Med = IDR 1,000,000 -2,000,000
High = > IDR 2,000,000
The income is per month perhectare13

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARYENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION:
DEFORESTATION AND LOSS OF BIODIVERSITYIn the past decade, forest areas in West Kalimantan and West Papua have decreased by 11% and 15% respectively, which is attributable to the palm
oil sector (Carlson et al., 2012). Large-scale palm oil cultivation practices continue as both smallholders and industries consider it as a cheaper,easier and faster method.

FOREST AREA (HA)

PALM PLANTATION AREA (HA)

WEST KALIMANTANWEST KALIMANTAN

2006

1,729,640

7,213,640

2016

1,252,977

6.747.723

8,943,280

8,000,700

WEST PAPUA

2006

211,687

2016

289,435

38,.285

501,122

761,900

1,144,185

WEST PAPUA

2006

974,217

7,587,158

2016

903,749

6,406,561

Peatland

8,561,375

7,310,310

Non peatland

Peatland conversion in West Kalimantan is 28% (2006-2016); that is three times higher than inWest Papua. The land conversion has resulted in forest fire especially during the dry seasons,destroying forests and endangering animal species. Furthermore, forest fires create a choking
haze that pollutes the air and causes the acute respiratory infection that spreads far to otherislands.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

2006

2016

33,71055,548Smallholders

Palm industries

In West Kalimantan, palm expansion by smallholder farmers since 2006 to 2016 is 81%
compared to 163% by palm industries. In West Papua, although the total area of palm
plantation shows an increase since 2006, the percentage of land expansion bysmallholders decreased by 22%. Massive expansion by palm industries increased by
187%, indicating the growing interest of industries to dominate West Papua, leaving thesaturated land in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARYENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION:INTENSIVE USAGE OF CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES-PESTICIDES
Among the farmers interviewed who use pesticide, 80% of them do not understand its eﬀect. While the application of pesticide helps farmers
overcome pests, misdirected use could raise problems such as pest resistance, poisoning, chemical residue in the produce, loss of pollinator,
soil and water contamination, reduced biodiversity, as well as negative eﬀects to non-target animals (Agne et al.,1995). Speciﬁcally, the loss ofpollinators has been closely linked with the use of pesticides which could threaten the future of food production, as 35% of global foodproduction depends on pollination.
TOTAL FARMERS USING PESTICIDESREASONS NOT TO USE PESTICIDESFARMERS’ KNOWLEDGE ABOUT
THE EFFECT OF PESTICIDES

Farmers (n=34)

Farmers (n=19)

Farmers using pesticide (n=15)

4

15

15

3

12
19

Expensive

Yes

Crops do not need pesticides

No
No

Yes

15

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARYENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION:INTENSIVE USAGE OF CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES-FERTILIZERS
Some commodities such as palm, rice, and rubber require fertilizers to grow optimally. Among the farmers interviewed, 40% use fertilizers but
only 15% know its eﬀect on the environment. Commonly used fertilizers consist of nitrogen and phosphorus, required substances in crop
productivity. Nonetheless, excessive use of fertilizers has raised environmental concerns. Excess nitrogen aﬀects the leaching of soil nitrate togroundwater. The overuse of phosphorus causes losses to freshwater bodies. Environmental problems are usually not seen as signiﬁcantconcerns to farmers as the impact is not immediately seen.
TOTAL FARMERS USING FERTILIZERSREASONS NOT TO USE FERTILIZERSKNOWLEDGE ABOUT FERTILIZEREFFECT

Farmers (n=34)

Farmers (n=20)

Farmers using fertilizers (n=14)

2

4

16

14
12

20

Expensive

Yes

Crops do not need fertilizers

No
No

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

Yes

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARYENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION:
IMPACT OF FARMING ACTIVITIESCurrent agricultural practices in Papua, West Papua, and West Kalimantan have a direct impact on the environment. Environmental aspects, including
air, water, soil, and biodiversity, can be disrupted due to poorly managed farming activities. The table below shows an overview of farmers’ activities
in the three provinces that cause environmental pollution and contamination. The environment conservation value level refers to impact towards theenvironment as result of farmers activities including land burning (air), chemical pesticide and fertilizer application (water and soil), and variety of tree
in a plantation (biodiversity).
Table 4. Environmental impact in each commodity
Environmental aspect

Environment impact

West Kalimantan

Commodity
Air

Water

Soil

Biodiversity

✓

✓

✓

✓

 Loss of biodiversity due to monoculture plantation
 Deforestation due to plantation expansion

Low

Rubber✓✓✓

Loss of biodiversity due to monoculture plantation

Med

Rice

✓

✓

✓



Pesticide retention causes pest outbreakLow

Burning of coconut husk might cause air pollution

High



Loss of biodiversity due to monoculture plantationMed

No significant long term environmental impact

High



Burning of coconut husk for household cooking fuelmight cause air pollution

High




Loss of biodiversity due to monoculture plantation
Deforestation due to plantation expansionMed

The practice of slash and burn results in air pollution

Usage of pesticide and fertilizer in moderation

Palm

Coconut

✓
✓

Cacao

Papua and West Papua

Environment
conservation
value

✓

✓

Sago
Coconut

✓

Palm

✓

Rice

✓

Sweet Potato

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Description• Low

75% farmers interviewed use
chemical pesticide andfertilizer, practice land burningfor expansion, andmonoculture farming• Medium

25-75% farmers interviewed
use chemical pesticide andfertilizer, practice land burning
for replanting and harvest,
and monoculture farming• High

0-25% farmers interviewed
use no chemical pesticide andfertilizer, not burning land,and practice polyculture
farming

Number of farmers interviewed
for environment conservation=34

Med
Med

17

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / NEXT STEPSLABOR EFFICIENCY, FARMER INCOME, AND ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Drawing on the three parameters’ analysis of each commodity, we highlight key recommendations for commodities with the low parametervalue. Moving forward, Kopernik recommends interventions that focus on technology, capacity building, and advocacy.
Table 5. Assessment matrix

West Kalimantan

AREA

Commodity

Labor eﬃciency (Agriculture)
Assessment

Farmer income

Key recommendations

Assessment

Environment conservation (Conservation)(Livelihood)

Key recommendations

Assessment

Key recommendations
Introduce, adopt and apply NDPE policy–nodeforestation, peat, and exploitation–which has to
be enforced across all palm supply chain including
smallholders.

Palm

Med

High

Low

Rubber

Med

Med

Med

Rice

Low

Coconut

Med

Med

Cacao

High

Low

Farmers can increase their labor eﬃciency
by using the appropriate paddy harvest machine.
This way, farmers can maximize harvest withlesser investment in labor.

Low

As modern rice cultivation method is newly introduced as
an intensiﬁed cash crop, farmers should receive training
regarding crop management and marketing to support themwith current information and access to the market.

Low

Encourage and support smart usage of fertilizers
and pesticides.

-

Papua and West Papua

Sago

Low

Coconut

Med

Palm

High

Rice

Low

Sweet PotatoHigh

By using appropriate technology especiallyfor post-harvest processing, farmers canmaximize productivity with lesser investment
in labor.

,

Recommended
interventions

As most cacao trees in Papua are either old or infectedwith the disease, farmers should look into the option ofplanting other commodities that has value to the local area.

Med

Low

Low
Farmers can increase their labor eﬃciency
by using the appropriate technique in the
pre-harvest stage.

High

Low

High
As most coconut trees are old, farmers should consider
replantation by applying modern cultivation practices. For
this reason, farmers need technical assistance to ease thereplantation eﬀort.
As palm trees in West Papua are no longer productive,
farmers can consider the option of converting the area forplanting other commodities that have value to the local area,
using a sustainable method of land clearing.
As it is understood rice in West Papua is not for sale,
farmers can cultivate diversiﬁed crops common to the local
area which can contribute to their income.

High“Hardware”(Technology)

Med

High

Med

Med

Med

“Software” (Capacity Building)“Enabling context” (Advocacy)

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / NEXT STEPS“HARDWARE”
TECHNOLOGY

Based on the identiﬁed challenges, we recommend related stakeholders to consider technology
intervention as an innovative way to increase productivity. The process involves designing,monitoring, and analyzing the intervention. A sound collaboration among the product developers,
farmers and community organizations is key to achieving appropriate technology intervention thatcan eﬀectively address farmers’ needs.

Technology experimentation framework

Design phase

Monitoring phase

Treatment
Group

Product
Development

Product
Implementation

Analysis phase

Measure changes in the pre andpost technology intervention inboth groups (treatment andcontrol) to understand the impactof the technology used.

ControlGroup19

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / NEXT STEPSCapacity building is targeted to improve smallholders’ technical and management skills inagriculture. The framework below provides guidance in conducting a rigorous capacity building for“SOFTWARE”
CAPACITY BUILDING farmers which can be done through workshops, training, and technical assistance. In this framework,

assessing the knowledge gap is key to decide what intervention is best for farmers to optimize theiragricultural practices.

Farmers’ capacity building framework

Assessment

Intervention

OutputKnowledge gap

Knowledge transfer

Optimized practices?

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / NEXT STEPS“SOFTWARE”
CAPACITY BUILDING

We recommend an action model ‘By farmers, for farmers’ where skilled and experienced farmers
share their knowledge to others in need. An established common ground provides space for themto freely collaborate with peers, share experiences, and improve skills.

Farmers’ capacity building framework
Assessing smallholder farmers’
knowledge gap

Knowledge transfer throughmentorship

Optimizing practices throughfarmers’ collaboration

Agricultural capacity quadrant

Action model capacity building

Monitoring and Evaluation

Agricultural management skill

High management
skill farmers

Monitoring of optimized process
Low skilledfarmers

High management skill
Low technical skill

Low management skill
Low technical skill

High management skill
High technical skill

Low management skill
High technical skill

High technical skill
farmers

Monitoring of outcomes(income, yield, etc)

Farmers with high technical and management skill
are recruited and then trained to share theirknowledge
amongstfarmerstofostercollaboration within community farmers.

Agricultural technical skill

21// EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / NEXT STEPSThe commodity in most need of favorable regulations and industry practices is palm oil. In thepalm oil sector, smallholder farmers have limited information about cultivating sustainable
plantations. For this reason, it is important for relevant stakeholders to support and guide farmers topractice sustainable farming by acquiring certifications such as those provided by the Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

“ENABLINGCONTEXT”
ADVOCACY

Toward sustainable palm oil production

Current StateThe government, market forces (i.e., consumer choice), andcivil society groups have been encouraging and pushinglarge plantation owners in adopting and applying
sustainable palm practices. However, smallholder farmers
have little knowledge and have neither been fully involved
nor supported to practice sustainable palm farming.
Government
regulations

Marketforces

Civil society
advocacy

Ideal State
Including smallholders as producers of sustainable palm
plantation through certifications will not just improve theenvironment but also farmers’ livelihood. Throughcertifications, farmers can develop management skills,
produce high-quality fruits, and gain better access tomarkets.
Government
regulations

External support & pressure

Left out conversations onsustainable practices

Large plantation owners

Smallholder farmers

Marketforces

Civil society
advocacy

External support & pressure

Large plantation owners

Smallholder farmers

Sustainability certifications

Sustainability certifications(e.g. RSPO)(e.g. RSPO)UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANPAPUA
DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW
CACAO
SAGO
COCONUT

// PAPUA / DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW
Table 6. Sanitation and Environment

The province of Papua comprises 28 districts with
Jayapura as the capital city. It is the largest province
in Indonesia, with a population of approximately 3.2
million inhabitants dispersed across diﬀerent
districts. Agriculture is the dominant employment
sector, absorbing 65.8% (or 1 million workers) of thetotal labor force. The province’s GRP per capita is
IDR 55.6 million, whereby mining is the biggest
contributor. Despite being rich in natural resources,
Papua is listed as one of the poorest region in the
country with 27.8% of its total population living inpoverty.

SANITATION &ENVIRONMENTPROVINCIALRATE (%)

NATIONAL
AVERAGE (%)

Access to cleanwater*

33.2

66.7

Cooking withﬁrewood

70.1

29.7

Access to basic
sanitation

24.8

61.1

Environmental
index (0-100)

80.7(Satisfactory)

Satisfactory*Sources of clean water consist of tap water, distributed tap water, drilled well,
protected dug well, protected spring water that is used for household purposes.

Source: Badan Pusat Statistik Provinsi Papua, 2017

COMMODITIESCACAOUNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANSAGOCOCONUTACCESS TO SANITATION ANDENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES:In Papua, 33.2% of the population has
access to clean water, far below thenational average at 66.7%.
Only 25% of the population has accessto basic sanitation, a low number
compare to the national average of 61%.
More than half of the population in
Papua still uses ﬁrewood to cook on adaily basis which poses risks on
respiratory health and environmental
degradation.
The environmental index (water, air,forest quality) of Papua is at asatisfactory level.

// PAPUA / DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW
DISTRIBUTION OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
Smallholder farmers are mostly concentrated in Yahukimo and Jayawijaya district (40,193 and 32,512 farmer households, respectively) where mostof the agricultural activities take place.
Distribution of Smallholder Farmers in Papua (2013)*# of farmer households (HH)
Number ofsmallholder
farmers HH

Ratio of farmers
HH/ total HH

Yahukimo

40,19393%

Jayawijaya

32,512

67%

Lanny Jaya

19,60750%

Paniai

18,90552%

Dogiyai

18,491

83%

Puncak

16,481

66%

Deiyai14,41890%

Mappi

14,21475%

Puncak Jaya

14,12446%

Pegunungan Bintang

13,45881%

Kota Jayapura

3,150

5%

Keerom

2,010

17%

Sarmi

1,998

26%

District

LegendPuncak> 30,000

Tolikara(High)

10,000 – 30,000 (Med)0 – 10,000(Low)

Pegunungan
Bintang

Dogiyai

Yahukimo

DeiyaiJayawijaya

Paniai

Puncak Jaya

Lanny Jaya

*The table is not a comprehensive list of districts in Papua. Some districts with small number of farmers are notfeatured25

// PAPUA / CACAO
CACAO IN PAPUACOMMODITY PERFORMANCELABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)

Yield

10,167 tons

Land

34,999 ha

Smallholder farmers

31,801 farmers

Products

Cacao beans

Varieties

Local, Sulawesi 1 (MCC 1),
Sulawesi 2 (MCC 2)

Indonesia is the third largest cacao producer in the world. In Papua, cacao is one of themain crops of choice for people who joined the transmigration program in the 1980s and in
1993. Cacao plantation was introduced to local smallholder farmers in several sub-districts,
i.e. Keerom, Sarmi, Yapen, Nabire, Waropen, and Jayapura. Despite being one of the main
cash crops in Papua, nowadays, a number of cacao farmers cannot solely rely upon cacao
as their main income source due to an epidemic of Cocoa Pod Borer (CPB). The epidemic
has caused cacao productivity to drop significantly, with a production growth rate of –12%from 2013–2015. The ongoing CPB epidemic has also caused reluctance among farmers to
replant cacao due to the laborious practice and fear of the persisting plant disease.

ENVIRONMENTCONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMERINCOME(Livelihood)Current cacao farming practices show that environment conservation issatisfactory as farmers have recently applied a polyculture system, in which
there is more than one type of plant within the farm. However, the use ofchemicals is still visible. The crop cultivation is still labor intensive, and farmers
do not make much earnings from selling cacao beans as they are valued at alow price due to poor post-harvest processing. This is because farmers dry thecacao beans approximately for two days which does not allow the beans toreach optimum dryness level.

27

// PAPUA / CACAOFARMER INCOME

CommodityMonthly income

Cacao

Low

Med

High

The income of cacao farmers is relatively low due to the low productivityof cacao fruits, especially if the trees are infected with diseases. The CPB
disease infecting many cacao plants in Papua has aﬀected farmers’
livelihood. The disease has caused cacao fruits to bear fewer pulps andbeans, decreasing the productivity of cacao trees. As a result of low
productivity, some farmers cannot solely rely on cacao for their main
farming income and are forced to leave the cacao sector.
Eﬀorts for replantation have started in several old cacao plantations.
The initiative, usually spearheaded by farming facilitators, is done byclearing half of the existing cacao plantation and planting new trees.
Farmers will also grow vegetables in the meantime while waiting for the
new trees to mature. Therefore, they can still earn income from half of
their existing cacao trees and the vegetables grown on the remainder of
their land. The same process will apply for the other half of the remaining
cacao trees. However, farmers still fear that the new trees can be infectedwith CPB.

KEY CHALLENGES
Many of the cacao farmers we interviewed were part of the government-led crop
intensiﬁcation project in the 1980s. However, since its conception and opening in the 1980s,
there have been no visible replanting eﬀorts for cacao trees in Papua.
Many cacao trees have grown past their productive age.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANTransmigrant smallholder farmer shows how to operate pesticide spray in Arso III, Keerom, Papua

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Support farmers in replantation activities and provide
them with the relevant knowledge and skills in managing and maintaining
plantations.

// PAPUA / CACAOFARMER INCOME: THE VALUE CHAIN
The cacao value chain below shows that smallholder farmers’ work is concentrated in the pre-harvest stage, whereas the least amount of work
occurs during post-harvest. Here, farmers only dry the cacao beans, which are valued at a low price by middlemen.

SMALLHOLDER FARMERSPREHARVEST
Prepare land
Seeding
Planting
Apply fertilizer

HARVEST

Maintain farmCollect cacao
beans

POSTHARVESTLOCALTRADERSDry cacao beansfor 1-2 days

Check cacao beans’moisture level
Dry beans for 5-7 days

Value added:

Price received by actors (per kg):

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN

52%

LARGE
BUYERS
Collect cacao beans from
diﬀerent districts in acentralized area

MANUFACTURERS& RETAILERS
Process cacao beans into
diﬀerent forms (i.e. cacao
powder, cacao butter)

CONSUMERS

Purchase cacao-based
products

10%

IDR 10,000

IDR 21,000*

IDR 23,100**

Farmers

Local Traders

Large Buyers

Local traders buy dried cacao beans fromfarmers for the price of IDR 10.000/kg. By
drying the beans longer, local traders add
value to the product and sell it to large
buyers at a price 52% higher.

*Price paid after 1-2 days drying time**Price is calculated based on average cacao global price in February at icco.org at the exchange rate of IDR 13,603/USD (average BI exchange rate in February 2018)29

// PAPUA / CACAOLABOREFFICIENCY:
PRE-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Pre-harvest

Cacao

2 hours/day

In Keerom district, cacao farming requires low labor intensity where
farmers spend approximately 2 hours a day in the ﬁeld during the
pre-harvest stage. First, farmers use polybags to germinate seeds forthree months until the seeds enter the vegetative and growth phase.
Then, farmers relocate the young cacao trees from the polybags into theground with a distance of 4 square meters between the trees. Cacao trees
require fertilizers and pesticides, especially in the ﬁrst and second year of
cultivation to maintain fruit quality. Generally, fertilizers are applied twice ayear. Farmers require 4 sacks* of fertilizers per hectare of land. Fertilizers
are relatively cheap in Keerom, but pesticides are not. The standard
requirement of pesticide usage may cost farmers up to IDR 500,000/ha –a high price to pay for smallholder farmers. Because of this, farmers do not
apply the correct proportion of pesticides, which in turn negatively aﬀects
the cacao plants, i.e. prone to diseases.
* One sack is about 50 kg

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers rarely take any steps to cope with pest infestation.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANCPB epidemic in Papua found in Arso III, Keerom district, Papua

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Provide farmers with continuous training and assistance on
how to treat common diseases of cacao trees.

// PAPUA / CACAOLABOREFFICIENCY:HARVEST

HOURS OF WORK

Commodity
Cacao

Harvest3 hours/day

Two years after planting, cacao fruits are ready to be harvested on aregular basis. In the harvest stage, farmers spend up to 3 hours working inthe ﬁeld. Cacao is harvested by opening the pods and scraping oﬀ thebeans to later be dried. Before the spread of CPB in Keerom, farmers used
to harvest every week. Now, they can only harvest once a month withapproximately 120 kilograms of cacao since many of the fruits are
hardened due to the disease. Farmers’ inability to maintain the cacao farmis also a contributing factor to the decline in fruit production. This, in part,is due to the limited knowledge of farmers and very little support from thelocal government in providing training on agricultural management.

Fruit infected with CPB epidemic found in Arso III, Keerom district, Papua

KEY CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONSThere are minimum replanting eﬀorts for cacao in Papua due to the CPB disease.

Government and NGOs: Consult with the farmers on replanting eﬀorts. Support andfacilitate farmers in organizing a sustainable cacao replantation practices.
Farmers groups: Actively coordinate with authorities on replanting eﬀorts.

CPB decreases cacao fruit productivity, which in turn negatively aﬀects farmers’ income.

Farmers groups: Convert lowest producing plots to other value added commodities.
Government and NGOs. Support farmers in their farming activity of other value added
commodities by subsidizing materials and providing agricultural training.

31

// PAPUA / CACAOLABOREFFICIENCY:
POST-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Post-harvest

Cacao

3 hours/day

Similar to the harvest stage, farmers spend around 3 hours a day working
in the field processing the beans. The beans are traditionally processedby sun-drying, which requires a moderate level of manual labor.
Once dried, cacao beans are collected by village collectors in each farm.
The price depends on the level of dryness of the beans, which typicallytakes about 5 to 7 days to reach an optimum dryness level with aremaining moisture level of 7%. Beans at this condition are sold at IDR
21,000/kg.
All too often, farmers in Papua immediately sell their beans just after 1 to 2
days of drying due to the need of immediate cash and to avoid weight
depreciation. Beans that are not properly dried are valued at a low price,
approximately IDR 11,000/kg.

Drying cacao beans at a local trader in Arso II, Keerom district, Papua.

KEY CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONS

The drying process becomes interrupted when it rains. Therefore, crops are not properly
dried which decreases the price of cacao.

Farmers groups: Use a simple solar dryer to avoid interruption of the drying process,and achieve consistent heat temperature to maximize drying results.
Government and NGOs: Assist farmers in using agricultural technologies.

The price of cacao is set by the middlemen. Farmers have little control of the price due to lackof information of the market price.

Government and NGOs: Inform and encourage farmers to consider cacao as asustainable agribusiness that can improve their livelihood. Assist farmers in gaining
direct access to the market.

Lack of financial institution to support smallholder farmers in post-harvest activities.

Farmers groups: Establish a cooperative to hold a specific control of the commodity
price to retain competitiveness in the market.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// PAPUA / CACAOENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Conservation Impact
Air

Water

Soil

Biodiversity

Environment
conservation
value

High

Med

High

Low

Med

Commodity
Cacao

Interviewed farmers in Keerom show that they have moderately
preserved the cacao farmland. The monoculture nature of cacao
plantation in Papua bears the risk of biodiversity loss. Like any
monoculture plantation, cacao is prone to pests, the most common being
Helopeltis spp. This insect hardens the fruit, making it inconsumable.
Helopeltis beneﬁts from the local environmental condition as it develops
faster in low altitude areas with high temperature. Despite multiple eﬀorts
to overcome the pests, the disease persists. Farmers have not been able
to aﬀord the pesticide for treating the pests. While they have also tried touse natural predators – ants – against the pests, it has not been practicalas the ants would cover the fruit and hinder the harvesting process.

Young cacao fruit

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers have diﬃculties in pest control and management.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government: Support farmers to replant by subsidizing prime cacao variety
followed by appropriate training in pest control and management considering thatcurrent trees are old and in need of regeneration.
Farmers groups: Experiment with alternative pesticides such as fungus that can besprayed to the cacao pods without aﬀecting the harvest.

33

// PAPUA / SAGO
SAGO IN PAPUACOMMODITY PERFORMANCELABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)
Yield

29,834 tons

Land

38,548 ha

Smallholder farmers-

Products

Sago starch

Varieties

Wild Sago, yepah sago,para sago

Typically associated with the eastern region of Indonesia, sago holds a cultural
signiﬁcance as a staple food in Papua. Farmers gather sago that is widely available nearbodies of water or swampy peatland. These areas are typically far from settlement areas,
which often requires smallholder farmers to set up huts and processing workshops inside
the forest in order to process the sago into starch.
Harvesting sago requires a contribution from the farmer’s household members. The
logging and grounding of sago trees are done by male members, while female members
are typically tasked with straining the sago. Initially known as a subsistence crop, sago has
now become a value-added crop that generates income for farmers.

ENVIRONMENTCONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMERINCOME(Livelihood)Current sago farming practices show that land is well preserved. This isbecause the plants are widely available and require no further intervention by
farmers (e.g., land burning, applying chemical substance) to scale up
cultivation. Regarding labor eﬃciency, cultivating sago relies heavily on manuallabor equipped with traditional tools. Farmers can spend days in the forest togather and process one sago tree. Nevertheless, each harvest allows farmers
to generate a modest income from selling the sago starch.

35

// PAPUA / SAGOFARMER INCOME

CommodityMonthly income

Cacao

Low

Med

High

The income of sago farmers in Papua is relatively modest. Sago starch isusually collected in 15 kg sacks and sold at IDR 200,000 per sack.
Generally, a sago farmer can collect about 15 sacks of sago starch from
one tree. The price of sago can be much higher in December and January
due to Christmas and New Year celebrations when demand is high, but
supply is lower due to the festivities.
Sago plantations in Papua are owned mostly – if not entirely – byindigenous farmers. It is an essential commodity for Papuan as a staple
food, especially before the introduction of rice. Sago starch is the mostcommon form of sago that smallholder farmers sell.
While processing sago is a laborious practice, it is as much a social
activity as it is an economic one. Despite the lack of farming groups
surrounding sago processing, farmers usually involve the women of theirhouseholds or neighbors for the starch extraction, who take home theprocessed sago as payment.
A sago grinding machine.

KEY CHALLENGES
Despite being the second largest producer of sago in Indonesia, farmers have notseen sago as an economic opportunity to intensify sago-derived products that canlater contribute to their income.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Support farmers through business development training
to equip them with the suﬃcient knowledge in producing and managing
sago-derived products.

// PAPUA / SAGOFARMER INCOME: THE VALUE CHAIN
Most of the sago production is focused on the harvest and post-harvest phase where it requires labor-intensive work. However, the price of sago
product sold in the local markets is double the price farmers received. It would be ideal for farmers to have access to the local markets and sell
their product directly. This way, farmers can benefit from the market price of their sago products.

SMALLHOLDER FARMERSPREHARVESTN/AHARVEST

Chop down amature sago tree

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN

POSTHARVESTOpen sago barkCut the insides
into smaller
piecesGrind the pieces
Extract sago into
starchValue added:

CONSUMERSLARGE BUYERS

Buy in bulk from farmers to sell directly at the market
Large buyers are usually local traders in the local market

50%

Buy dried sago starch at the traditional market

30%

IDR 20,000
IDR 15,000
Price received by actors (per kg):

IDR 10,000

Farmers

Large Buyers

Consumers37

// PAPUA / SAGOLABOREFFICIENCY:
PRE-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Pre-harvest

Sago

2 hours/day

In the pre-harvest stage, farmers do not require intensive labor as there is
only little work involved. For instance, to obtain the seedlings, farmers
need only to cut the buds growing from the lower part of the sago treestem. This ability to continually grow a new bud means that sago can havea naturally sustained growth without the need for agricultural chemical
substances. This technique of sago cultivation in Papua has been passed
on for generations, where farmers manage, expand, and share their sagoplots by traditional regulations.

Farmer shows a new sago shoot to be used for replanting in Maribu, Jayapura, Papua

KEY CHALLENGES
Sago cultivation for many smallholder farmers is still done in a traditional, non-intensified
method.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Assist farmers on how to improve cultivation practice toincrease sago yield.

// PAPUA / SAGOLABOREFFICIENCY:HARVEST

HOURS OF WORK

Commodity
Sago

Harvest7 hours/day

Sago harvesting requires farmers to work up to 7 hours a day as it involves
logging the trees manually using simple tools such as an ax and acrowbar. Once the tree is chopped down, farmers take the sago trunk to
be cut into small pieces, approximately 0.5 to 1 meter in length. The small
pieces are then opened with a crowbar in order to take out the starchy
stems. These are further cut into smaller pieces to ease the grinding
process.

Sago bark is chopped down into smaller pieces before grinding

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers do not have the appropriate equipment to maximize harvest. Breaking open a sago
tree with an ax often leaves some of the sago to waste, because some can still be stuck in thebark.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Farmers: A chainsaw type of technology can help farmers to make more precise cuts
and maximize harvest.

39

// PAPUA / SAGOLABOREFFICIENCY:
POST-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Post-harvest

Sago

6 hours/day

Sago farmers spend the most time working during the post harvest stage
which takes up to 6 hours a day in the field. Farmers usually process thesago directly after harvest. This involves grinding and squeezing theharvested sago to extract the starch. The starch of the squeezed sago will
settle on the bottom of the tub and then is collected and placed into sacks
as wet sago starch.
Farmers will keep a certain proportion for self-consumption, and will sell
the rest to local traders at IDR 10,000/kg.

Sago starch production is usually done by individual farmers with the help of household members

KEY CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONS

Muddy paths and small rivers along the route to the harvesting and processing area hinder
farmers in carrying the sago back to the village when selling.

Government: Local government to provide better paths for farmers to reach theirsago plantation area and to carry the harvest.

Farmers only sell a single product variety of sago – the starch, which generates relatively
modest to low income.

Farmers: Farmers are advised to produce value-added products such as sago flourand sago sugar, to improve income.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// PAPUA / SAGOENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Air

Water

Soil

Biodiversity

Environment
conservation
value

High

High

High

High

High

Conservation Impact
Commodity
Sago

Farmers we interviewed show that they have preserved the sago landsustainably by practicing responsible harvesting, i.e., replanting sago for
future harvest without adding chemical substances such as fertilizers andpesticides to enhance production. The growth of sago trees are nurtured
by nature; hence there is no threat to the environment from the current
agricultural practice.
As home to 85% of sago forest in Indonesia, with around 60 genetic
varieties spread across the island, sago forest in Papua island have an
ecological function as carbon reserve, the water regulator, andbiodiversity preservation.

Local Papuans making sago starch into Papeda, common Papuan food

KEY CHALLENGES
As an indigenous commodity, sago is protected by both government and local customarylaw. Under these laws, sago forests are not to be converted into other land use.
Unfortunately, rapid economic growth makes infrastructure development inevitable, someeven reaching sago forest. There have been numerous incidents of land conversion fromsago forest to building facilities or to monoculture plantations.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government, NGOs and farmers’ groups: With the collaboration and commitmentof these stakeholders, the enforcement of the existing law is plausible to ensure no
more conversion of sago forest.

41

// PAPUA / COCONUT
COCONUT IN PAPUACOMMODITY PERFORMANCELABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)

Yield

15,993 tons

Land

25,151 ha

Smallholder farmers
Products
Varieties

34,586 farmers
Whole coconut, coconut
husks, copra, coconut oil-

A typical tropical crop, coconut plantations are spread across Indonesia. In Papua, Sarmi
district has the most enormous amount of land used for coconut plantations. In most ofSarmi, coconuts are farmed traditionally without a systematic cultivation method. Whilesome sell whole coconuts, copra is also a common form of processed coconut that ismonetized. Coconut oil processing units and simple technologies are also readily available;
however, only a small number of groups are still actively processing coconut oil. This is dueto the limited access to markets and the low price of coconut oil which have discouraged
farmers from intensifying coconut-based products.

ENVIRONMENTCONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMERINCOME(Livelihood)Current coconut farming practices in Papua show that land is well preserved as
farmers use very little fertilizers and pesticides on their farm. Farmers wait forthe old coconuts fall to the ground rather than climbing the tree to pick themup. These old coconuts are processed into copra and sold to middlemen for
only IDR 4.500/kg, the relatively low price received by farmers.

43

// PAPUA / COCONUTFARMER INCOME

CommodityMonthly income

Coconut

Low

Med

High

Sarmi holds the second largest area for coconut plantation in Papua,
covering almost 4,000 hectares. However, its productivity is still at 734
kg/ha, lower than the average provincial productivity of 845 kg/ha. The
low productivity rate signals a gap in crop intensification. While coconut ismost often sold in its unprocessed fruit form, some coconut farmers
interviewed in Sarmi also process coconut into copra and virgin coconut
oil (VCO). Unfortunately, the income of coconut farmers in Sarmi
generated from selling these coconut-derived products is relatively low
due to lack in price information and access to markets.

VCO processing by farmers in Sarmi, Papua

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers are discouraged to produce VCO due to the limited market access and the lack offarmers’ competitiveness in setting the price.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government: Support farmers through government-led programs that take into
account the control of standard pricing and market access to farmers.
NGOs: Support farmers through training in agribusiness management forsustainable agricultural development.

// PAPUA / COCONUTFARMER INCOME: THE VALUE CHAIN - VCO
VCO production in Keder Village, Sarmi district has been minimal. Only one out of the five previously formed VCO groups is still actively producing.
Farmers are still discouraged from producing VCO due to low prices and lack of market access and information. While there is an option to sell the
product directly at local markets for IDR 20,000/liter, farmers choose to sell to factories despite a lower price because factories serve as an assured
buyer where farmers do not have to worry about products being unsold.
SMALLHOLDER FARMERSPREHARVEST
Prepare land
Plant coconut
trees

HARVEST

Collect fallen
coconut

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN

POSTHARVEST
Grind coconut
meat
Extract coconutmilk
Let stay in theplastic drum
Strain the oil

CONSUMER

FACTORY

LARGE BUYER

More straining andrefining process

Value added:

MARKETS
Packaging

IDR 200,000

1381%

Price received
by actors (per kg):

IDR 20,000*

IDR 13,500

Farmers

Farmers

Price not identified

Factory

Large buyer

Consumers*If farmers sold the product directly at the market

45

// PAPUA / COCONUTFARMER INCOME: THE VALUE CHAIN - COPRA
In Keder village, Sarmi, copra is the primary form of coconut product that is monetized. The majority of farmers have made an eﬀort to turn theircoconut into copra rather than selling whole, raw coconuts. They usually sell copra at a price range of IDR 4,000 – 5,000 to middlemen who cometo pick up the copra. The middlemen usually come from Jayapura or Keerom districts, who then sell the produce to large buyers in Surabaya.

SMALLHOLDER FARMERSPREHARVEST
Prepare land
Plant coconut
trees

HARVEST

Collect fallen
coconut

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN

POSTHARVEST
Take out coconut
meat from theshell
Dry the coconut
meat

Value added:

LARGE BUYERS

MIDDLEMEN

Pick up the coconut
Transport coconuts totrading point

33%

Supply sorted coconut toprocessing factories,
markets and retailers

33%

IDR 8,000
Price received by actors (per kg):

IDR 6,000*
IDR 4,500

Farmers

Middlemen*Estimate price received by middlemen

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

Large Buyers

EXPORTERS &MANUFACTURERS
Process coconuts into various
value-added products

// PAPUA / COCONUTLABOREFFICIENCY:
PRE-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Pre-harvest

Coconut

2 hours/day

In the pre-harvest stage, farmers do not require intensive labor as there is
only a little work involved, i.e., coconut trees are already at a mature age
and ready for harvest. It takes approximately four to eight years forcoconut trees to mature and bear fruits, depending on the type of seeds,
soil condition, and farm maintenance.
In general, coconut farming requires fertilizing and pesticides to maintainthe quality of coconuts and productivity. However, farmers in Sarmi do notpractice these farming methods. Most coconut trees in this area are oldand have been there for decades. There are eﬀorts by farmers’ groups tostart new coconut plantations with prime varieties in new plots.

Coconut trees in Sarmi are taller than the electricity poles.

KEY CHALLENGES
When interviewing the farmers in Sarmi, none indicated any challenges faced during the
pre-harvest stage of farming. However, we observed that the coconut trees are very tall,reaching more than 15 meters. This indicates that the trees are more than 30 years old which
lowers productivity.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government and farmers groups: Farmers to do coconut replantation with thelocal government subsidizing prime coconut seed variety to farmers.

47

// PAPUA / COCONUTLABOREFFICIENCY:HARVEST

HOURS OF WORK

Commodity

HarvestCoconut

5 hours/day

During harvesting farmers only spend roughly 5 hours a day collecting
fallen coconuts on the ground. The practice of only collecting fallen
coconut on the ground is because most coconuts are processed into
copra. The fallen coconuts indicate they are old fruits with lower watercontent and more meat which makes it more preferable to be processed
into copra.

A coconut farmer deshelling coconut to get the meat

KEY CHALLENGES
When interviewing the farmers in Sarmi, none indicated any challenges faced during theharvest stage. However, we observed that farmers invest a significant amount of time
waiting for coconuts to fall to be collected for copra processing, when they can work onother income generating activities.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Local government: To support farmers in diversifying agriculture crop by providing
initial crop seed varieties (e.g., fruits, vegetables) commonly grown and consumed
locally. As well as facilitation in conducting farming activities using modern techniques.

// PAPUA / COCONUTLABOREFFICIENCY
POST-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Post-harvest

Coconut

3 hours/day

During post-harvest, farmers spent up to three hours a day to produce
copra, a moderate-intensity labor activity. Starting from peeling the husks,
and splitting the coconut in half, farmers then take the meat out of thecoconut shell using a simple screwdriver-type tool. The meat is dried
under the sun or dried through a smoking method. Both methods takeabout three days to reach the optimal drying level of copra. To make one
sack (80 kg) of copra takes around 400 coconuts. The buyers usually
come from other regions of Papua, such as Jayapura or Keerom and pickup the copra in Sarmi.

Coconuts on a drying platform to be turned into copra

KEY CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONS

Farmers have stagnant production capacity due to traditional method of processing.

Government and NGOs: Identify and assess technologies that can help farmers
process copra faster, hence enabling more production. Assist farmers in capacity
building to better equip them with the knowledge and skills in maximizing production.

The price of copra is set by the middlemen or large buyers. Farmers have little control overcopra price.

Government and NGOs: Strengthen farmer groups to form a farming cooperative andestablish bargaining power with the local buyers.

49

// PAPUA / COCONUTENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Air

Water

Soil

Biodiversity

Environment
conservation
value

High

High

High

Med

High

Conservation Impact
Commodity
Coconut

The farmers we interviewed showed that they have preserved the landsustainably by avoiding the use of chemical substances, which could
aﬀect the soil and groundwater sources. Farmers also cultivate othercrops in between the coconut trees which protects biodiversity. We also
observed that husks from the peeled coconuts are piled in front offarmers’ houses and left unprocessed. With proper knowledge and skills,
farmers can turn husks into value-added biomass fuel.
The growth trend of coconut plantation areas in Sarmi has remained ﬂat in
the present years. This implies that farmers might feel content with thecurrent yield and production of coconut or they need assistance inintensifying coconut-derived products to contribute to their income.
Coconut meat for further processing

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers have little knowledge on how to eﬀectively manage coconut waste, i.e., husks.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Assist farmers in capacity building to better equip farmers
with the knowledge and skills to eﬀectively manage coconut waste and turning it into
eco-friendly biomass fuel.

WEST PAPUA
DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW
PALM
SWIDDEN RICESWEET POTATO

// WEST PAPUA / DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW
Table 7. Sanitation and Environment

West Papua province comprises 12 districts with
Manokwari as the capital city. The province holds a
total population of 890,000 inhabitants. Similar to
Papua, agriculture is the dominant employment
sector, absorbing 45% (160,000 workers) of the totallabor force. The province’s GRP per capita is IDR 72
million, with the construction sector as the mostsigniﬁcant contributor. Unfortunately, West Papua’s
poverty rate is second highest in the nation after
Papua at 27.8%.

Source: Badan Pusat Statistik Provinsi Papua Barat, 2017

SANITATION &ENVIRONMENTPROVINCIALRATE (%)

NATIONAL
AVERAGE (%)

Access to cleanwater*

58.5

66.7

Cooking withﬁrewood

43.7

29.7

Access to basic
sanitation

65.8

61.1

Environmental
index (0-100)

84.5

Satisfactory*Sources of clean water consist of tap water, distributed tap water, drilled well,
protected dug well, protected spring water that is used for household purposes.

COMMODITIESPALMUNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRICESWEET POTATOACCESS TO SANITATION ANDENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES:
More than half of the population haveaccess to clean water. The provincial
rate is 58.5% which nearly reaches thenational average rate at 66.7%.
The provincial rate for basic sanitation ishigh, indicating that the inhabitants have
suﬃcient sanitation facilities.
Almost half of the population still use
ﬁrewood to cook on a daily basis, which
poses risks to the environment.
The environmental index (water, air,forest quality) of West Papua is at asatisfactory level.

// WEST PAPUA / DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW
DISTRIBUTION OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
Smallholder farmers are mostly concentrated in Manokwari district (12,605 farmer households) where most of the agricultural activities take place.
Distribution of Smallholder Farmers in West Papua (2013)# of farmer households (HH)

District

Number ofsmallholder
farmers HH

LegendRatio of farmers
HH/ total HH

Kota Sorong

Tambrauw> 30,000

Manokwari

0 – 10,000

Manokwari

12,60537%

Sorong3,941

22%

Raja Ampat
Sorong Selatan

3,776
3,451

38%
42%

Maybrat

3,122

44%

Teluk Bintuni

2,745

22%

Fakfak

2,430

16%

Kota Sorong

2,199

5%

Teluk Wondama

1,335

21%

Kaimana

1,252

11%

Tambrauw

714

25%(High)

10,000 – 30,000 (Med)(Low)

Kab. Sorong
Raja Ampat
Sorong Selatan

Teluk Bintuni
MaybratFakfakKaimana
Teluk Wondama

53

// WEST PAPUA / PALM
PALM IN WEST PAPUACOMMODITY PERFORMANCELABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)

Yield

144,826 tons

Land

43,477 ha

Smallholder farmers

9,964 farmers

Products

Palm kernel bunches

Varieties-

Palm plantations in West Papua were opened in the early 1980s as part of a government
scheme led by a state-owned company, PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) II. Under the
Perkebunan Inti Rakyat (PIR) system – or Nucleus-Plasma system – private plantationcompanies were to establish operations (known as 'inti' or Nucleus), where they open lands
and plant palm trees for smallholder farmers (known as plasma) to manage and supervise oncethe palm trees have matured. The total area of palm plantations is roughly around 23,000
hectares in three sub-districts: Warmare, Masni, and Praﬁ. However, since the plantations were
established in the 1980s, there have not been any visible eﬀorts for replantation, leaving
smallholder farmers with palms that have grown past the productive years and diminishedearning streams.

ENVIRONMENTCONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMERINCOME(Livelihood)Current palm oil farming practices in the Praﬁ plains of Manokwari is largely
non-existent. The palms have mostly grown past their productive age withmany of them producing very little or no fruits at all. This condition has led
farmers to abandon their palm trees since they are no longer proﬁtable. Thus,
most of the palm trees that exist in the Praﬁ plains are left as idle assets.
Farmers with productive trees usually rent out their land for a monthly fee tothose interested in harvesting and keeping the produce (usually migrant
workers with the knowledge to harvest palm fruits).

55

// WEST PAPUA / PALM
FARMER INCOME

CommodityMonthly income

Palm

Low

Med

High

Each of the smallholder farmer households in Praﬁ were allocated around2 hectares of palm plots under the PIR scheme. Palm oil became one of
the main source of income for farmers in Praﬁ, who otherwise cultivate
fruits (e.g., rambutans, durians) and vegetables.
Thirty-ﬁve years since establishment, palm plantations in Praﬁ have neverseen any replantation eﬀorts, leaving farmers with palms that have grownpast their productive age. Several farmers who were interviewed haveshifted from palm oil plantations as their source of income. Palm trees thathave grown past 10 meters in height and the absence of a nearby
processing unit also serve as an additional factor that has caused farmers
leaving the palm sector. The current practice of some farmers with still
producing palm is to hire a harvester or rent out their land.

A palm farmer explaining about current condition of his plantation

KEY CHALLENGES
Most palm oil plantations in Praﬁ are sitting as idle resources for farmers due to low
productivity and absence of an active processing unit nearby. Most farmers are unable togenerate any income from their existing palm trees.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Farmers: Household-scale technology to process kernel oil or livestock feed fromexisting palm resources can be beneﬁcial for farmers.
Government and NGOs: Assist farmers in procuring appropriate technology andknowledge transfer for palm processing at the household level.

// WEST PAPUA / PALM
FARMER INCOME: THE VALUE CHAIN
Indigenous farmers in West Papua have not invested much agricultural eﬀort in the value chain process as most of the palm trees are currently
unproductive. For farmers who were able to harvest their produce, palm fruits are sold to the middlemen at IDR 900/kg.

SMALLHOLDER FARMERSPREHARVESTN/AHARVEST

Hire people tocollect palm fruit

POSTHARVEST
N/A

FACTORYMIDDLEMEN LARGEBUYERS

Buy and collectharvested crops
from farmers.
Transport and sellcrops to thefactory.

Process palm into
kernel and crude
oil.
Sell/export andtransport to large
buyers.

LARGE
BUYER
Supply kernel or
crude palm oil toprocessing
factories.

WHOLE
PROCESSOR CONSUMERS
SALER
Process andpackage kernel
or crude palm oil
into marketable
goods.
Sell towholesalers.

Distributemarketable
goods to retailers
in large quantity.

RETAILER

Sell goods toconsumers.

25%

Value added:
Price received by actors (per kg):

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN

IDR 900

IDR 1,200

Farmers

Middlemen57

// WEST PAPUA / PALMLABOREFFICIENCY:
PRE-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Pre-HarvestPalm

2 hours/day

Palm trees that belong to farmers who started the plantation in the 1980s
still exist. However, the productivity is low since most of the trees havematured past its productive age. There are no visible replantation eﬀorts
yet. At the beginning of the plantation, the private companies (nucleus)
provided farming inputs and technical assistance to support farmers(plasma). In return, plasma farmers were obligated to pay as much as 30%of the total yield to the private companies.

A palm oil plantation in Prafi Plains, Manokwari district, West Papua

KEY CHALLENGES
There has been no revitalization eﬀort to increase palm productivity.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Support farmers in revitalization eﬀort that isenvironmentally responsible (i.e., RSPO).

// WEST PAPUA / PALMLABOREFFICIENCY:HARVEST

HOURS OF LABOR

Commodity

HarvestPalm

2 hours/day

Some palm trees in Prafi, Manokwari have grown up to 10 meters inheight. Indigenous farmers who are still willing to harvest the palms will
typically hire harvest workers (usually a migrant worker with more
knowledge and experience who approximately spend 2 hours a day in thefield).
Since many plantations are no longer productive, the maximum
production of the plantation is 50-80 fresh fruit bunch (FFB) with around
10-15 kg per bunch in each harvest period.

Palm oil tree in Prafi sub-district, Manokwari district, West Papua that has been overgrown by weeds

KEY CHALLENGES
There is a knowledge and tool gap for local farmers to harvest the palm trees on their own.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government, NGO, and farmers groups: Consolidate training and best practices for
optimal cultivation and harvest processes.

59

// WEST PAPUA / PALMLABOREFFICIENCY:
POST-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Post-harvest

Palm

N/A

In the post-harvest phase, farmers only sell the harvested palm bunches
to processing factories. However, these factories are located far awayfrom where farmers live. In Praﬁ district, the nearest factory is about 45 km
away. This is one of the reasons why farmers gain little income which has
made them lose interest in the palm sector. Therefore, relying on the palm
alone cannot sustain their livelihood. There is an urgency for farmers toseek alternatives in other crop cultivation to contribute to their income.

Unproductive palm plantation being cleared in Prafi sub-district, Manokwari district, West Papua

KEY CHALLENGES
Since palm fruits are no longer supplied to factories due to its low production, farmers arehaving diﬃculties to ﬁnd a way to add value to existing palm fruits.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Farmers: To look into processing oil using household scale kernel oil processor.
Farmers to process the palm leaf bunches into animal feed.
NGOs: To provide technical assistance, identify, and experiment with alternativetechnology to produce kernel oil that can be sold locally.

// WEST PAPUA / PALM
ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Air

Water

Soil

Biodiversity

Environment
conservation
value

Med

High

High

Med

Med

Conservation Impact
CommodityPalm

As palm oil plantations in Prafi and Warmare are no longer productive andmany have been abandoned by the farmers, there have been no fertilizer
usage to maintain the palm plants. While there have been talks among thegovernment to revitalize or replant the palm plantations, there needs tobe a special attention to a more environmentally responsible method ofpalm cultivation before beginning the replantation. One example of suchmethods is through the RSPO certification.

High and unproductive palm trees in Prafi sub-district, Manokwari district, West Papua

KEY CHALLENGES
Unproductive palm plantation.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government, NGO, and farmers groups: Formulate a strategic revitalization method
for non-productive palm oil plantation plots.

61// WEST PAPUA / SWIDDEN RICESWIDDEN RICE IN WEST PAPUACOMMODITY PERFORMANCELABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)

Yield

1,779 tons

Land

680 haSmallholder farmers
Products
Varieties

Rice
Local variety

There are mainly two types of rice cultivation in West Papua: dryland and wetland. Indigenous
farmers prefer to cultivate rice using a dryland paddy system, whereas migrant farmers use awetland paddy system to grow rice. This dryland paddy cultivation method is known as theswidden method – a traditional shifting cultivation. The swidden method is commonly
associated with cultural traditions is mostly applied to rice cultivation which is intercropped
with sweet potato, cassava, and banana fruit (polyculture).

ENVIRONMENTCONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMERINCOME(Livelihood)Current swidden rice cultivation practices in West Papua gives moderate
impact towards land preservation. In addition, the polyculture system also
protects biodiversity. The labor eﬃciency and farmer income are low as
swidden rice is not an intensiﬁed commodity and is mostly cultivated forfarmer’s own consumption.

63

// WEST PAPUA / SWIDDEN RICEFARMER INCOME

CommodityMonthly income

Swidden Rice

Low

Med

High

Swidden rice in West Papua is not treated as a cash crop. Most of theharvested rice is kept for farmers’ household consumption. Only a few
farmers sell rice to the local markets. As surveyed in the Prafi andWarmare plains, swidden rice is cultivated by Local Papuan households(mostly from the Arfak tribe) along with fruits and vegetables. Most – if not
all – swidden rice farmers still rely on external services to mill their rice.
Rice processing units are usually available through migrant farmer groups.
The fee is usually paid in the form of goods, i.e., the milled rice where themiller gets to keep 10% of the milled rice.

Community rice milling facility

KEY CHALLENGES
Interviewed farmers did not raise any specific issues. However, it is observed that theavailability of organic fertilizers, which can be a tool to increase yield and land fertility,
remains a challenge.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government, NGOs: Design programs for subsidized organic fertilizers and intensify
training for farmers on the proper fertilizer usage.
Support farmers with simple composting technology to locally produce organic
fertilizer.

// WEST PAPUA / SWIDDEN RICEFARMER INCOME: THE VALUE CHAIN
Indigenous rice farmers in Papua and West Papua see rice as subsistence or near-subsistence crop which means that most of the yield is forhousehold consumption. Several farmers, however, do sell the produce when there is a surplus. The rice is directly sold by the farmers themselves
at a local market for IDR 10,000 per kg.

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN

SMALLHOLDER FARMERSPREHARVEST
Prepare land
Clear the land

HARVEST

Cut rice stalks

Value added:
Price received by actors (per kg):

POSTHARVESTStore theunhulled rice
Bring to rice
miller to mill anddehusk the rice

CONSUMERS
Buy rice directly at the local market

N/A

IDR 10,000

Farmers65

// WEST PAPUA / SWIDDEN RICELABOREFFICIENCY:
PRE-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Pre-harvest

Swidden Rice

8 hours/day

Swidden rice farmers usually move their plot every year. While more
farmers are starting to employ herbicide as a first step in clearing the field,
slash-and-burn methods are not uncommon. This method not only clears
the land for agricultural purposes but also adds mineral vegetation to thesoil as fertilizer. The decision to burn takes cultural contexts (e.g., humidity,
temperature, wind, and other factors) into consideration. Also, reducing
insect, fungi, and disease is another reason for the slash-and-burn
method. Farmers usually spend 8 hours a day working in the field during
the pre-harvest stage.

Swidden rice are often planted amongst other crops such as banana or cassava

KEY CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONS

Farmers are still using the traditional method to prepare land for cultivation (slashing andburning).

Government and NGOs: Provide technical assistance for sustainable farming
practices.

Dryland paddy plantations are prone to pests and wild animals such as boars that may eat
the plants. There is still a knowledge gap among some farmers on how to properly maintainthe plantation.

Government and NGOs: Provide technical assistance to maintain rice plantation.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// WEST PAPUA / SWIDDEN RICELABOREFFICIENCY:HARVEST

HOURS OF WORK

Commodity

HarvestSwidden Rice

4 hours/day

Swidden rice is ready to be harvested nine months after planting.
Harvesting is usually done manually using traditional tools which require
farmers to work up to 4 hours a day in the field. After harvested,un-threshed rice is stored.
Typically, they cultivate the cropland for a year long and move on to thenext cleared land before coming back to the same area in about four to six
years.
During the harvest period, farmers rely on household members andcommunity to share the labor. Those who help are usually paid by theharvested yield or cash.

A farmer group and government facilitators in Jayapura, Papua

KEY CHALLENGES
Most indigenous farmers still rely on hand tools which require extensive labor work due tothe upland location.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government: Provide access to alternative farming tools.

67

// WEST PAPUA / SWIDDEN RICELABOREFFICIENCY:
POST-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Post-harvest

Swidden Rice

2 hours/day

Not many processes are taken into account in the post-harvest phase ofrice cultivation by indigenous farmers. Until the rice is ready to be
consumed or sold, farmers usually store un-threshed rice. Farmers carry
the rice to the available processing units within the district. To pay for
threshing and milling services, usually, 10% of the milled rice is taken as
payment. As a subsistence crop, rice of indigenous farmers is stored
either in the farm or at home storage.

From left: rice miller for community use. A working shelter for rice and soybeans in Jayapura, Papua

KEY CHALLENGES
Limited processing unit facilities result in damaged grains.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government: Increase processing units to be accessible by farmers.

// WEST PAPUA / SWIDDEN RICEENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Air

Water

Soil

Biodiversity

Environment
conservation
value

Low

Med

High

Med

Med

Conservation Impact
Commodity
Swidden Rice

Interviewed farmers in Warmare and Prafi in West Papua show thatenvironmental conservation is achieved through the absence ofsynthetic/chemical usage in swidden rice cultivation. The aspect of
biodiversity preservation is present as several swidden rice plots involve
poly-cropping methods, with some area of plots also planted with cassava
or corn.
The potential risk posed by swidden farming methods is related to theslash-and-burn practice. While the decision to burn takes into
consideration cultural context (e.g., humidity, temperature, wind and otherfactors), air pollution is a factor that should not be neglected.
Newly grown rice

KEY CHALLENGES
There is no significant challenge mentioned by the farmer. However, if slash-and-burn is notproperly carried out, it might be harmful to the environment.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Monitor the practice of slashing and burning practiced by
farmers.

69

// WEST PAPUA / SWEET POTATOSWEET POTATO IN WEST PAPUACOMMODITY PERFORMANCELABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)

Yield

302,976 tons

Land

22,346 ha

Smallholder farmers-

Products

Sweet Potato

Varieties

Salossa, Sawentar, Pattipi

Sweet potato has historically served as the primary staple food of most Papuans, especiallyvillagers in the hill area. Sweet potato farming among smallholder farmers in Papua is
generally divided into two methods: the traditional method and the bedeng or plot method.
While both methods cultivate the crop from the stems of existing sweet potato plants, there
are diﬀerences in crop maintenance and harvesting method. Sweet potato cultivated using
the traditional method can be harvested more than once in one crop cycle. For smallholder
farmers, the leaves of the sweet potato are also utilized as a food source.

ENVIRONMENTCONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMERINCOME(Livelihood)Current sweet potato farming practices in West Papua show that theenvironment is moderately preserved. Farmers use a suﬃcient amount ofchemical substances to grow the sweet potato. In terms of labor eﬃciency,
many farmers use traditional tools to harvest. Farmers generally sell theirharvest in its raw form directly to the local markets. The absence of middlemenin the commodity value chain has helped farmers to earn a good and stable
income.

71

// WEST PAPUA / SWEET POTATOFARMER INCOME

CommodityMonthly income

Sweet Potato

Low

Med

High

Farmers earn a good and stable income as some of them are able to sell
raw sweet potato directly to the local market. Farmers can increase
income if they produce diversiﬁed value-added products (e.g., chips,ﬂour).
Diﬀerent from most intensiﬁed food crops, sweet potato cultivation in
Papua is mostly done traditionally through a system called kuming/cuming
or selective harvest, in which the harvest is done multiple times. Only
mature sweet potatoes that are larger are harvested, while the smaller
produce is kept in the soil to be harvested after it has matured. Since themajority of sweet potato in Papua is sold in its raw form, there are limited
options for farmers to add value to the produce. This is also due to theknowledge gap for sweet potato post-harvest processing.

A sweet potato farmer in his field in Arso, Keerom, Papua

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers have limited knowledge to diversify sweet potato derived product.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Support by providing business development training.

// WEST PAPUA / SWEET POTATOFARMER INCOME: THE VALUE CHAIN
Sweet potato is a commonly cultivated crop for local farmers and is commonly seen in almost all markets. Sweet potato and its leaves are also
purposed for farmers’ consumption. While farmers have the option to sell directly at markets for IDR 10,000 per kg, the presence of large buyers isstill important to some farmers as assured buyers for sweet potato.

SMALLHOLDER FARMERSPREHARVEST
Prepare land
Seeding
Planting

HARVEST

Collect maturedsweet potatoes
Collect seed fornext cultivation

POSTHARVEST
Sorting
Direct sales to
consumer

Value added:
Price received by actors (per kg):

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN

LARGE BUYERS

Buy in bulk from farmers to directly sell at the market

CONSUMERS

Buy sweet potato directly at the local markets

223%
IDR 3,000

IDR 10,000

Farmers

Large Buyers

73// WEST PAPUA / SWEET POTATOLABOREFFICIENCY:
PRE-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Pre-harvest

Sweet Potato

4 hours/day

Sweet potato farming activities in Papua are mostly done by women.
Clearing and tilling the land are mainly done by the males of a farming
household using only traditional tools such as scopes, machetes, andforks. These activities can take up to 4 hours a day in the field.
Male farmers typically pile up ground beds of soil known as bedeng. In
200 meter square land, they usually have two bedeng, with 3 x 20 meterin size each. This cultivation method is known as Hipere wen.
Herbicide usage is commonly used during the initial stage of land
preparation to clear out the weeds and wild grass. In rural areas, sweet
potato is planted alongside other crops, e.g., banana, cassava, or even dry
paddy in the hill.

A smallholder farmer shows his sweet potato farm in Arso, Keerom, Papua

KEY CHALLENGES
The production of sweet potato has not been optimum due to the use of traditional method.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government, NGOs: Introduce the importance of proper farming techniques.

// WEST PAPUA / SWEET POTATOLABOREFFICIENCY:HARVEST

HOURS OF WORK

Commodity

HarvestSweet Potato

3 hours/day

Generally, harvesting is done by women, which involves working in theﬁeld for up to three hours a day. They use crowbars or wood to search formature sweet potato in the bedeng. Once located, farmers take out themature ones and leave the young crops for the next harvest. This ensuresthat farmers household have suﬃcient food reserve to sustain daily
consumption.

An untreated sweet potato farm in Arso, Keerom, Papua

KEY CHALLENGES
Currently, farmers keep the crops in the soil as storage. This exposes farmers to the risk ofcrop failure due to heavy rain.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Farmers: Simple, aﬀordable storage technology can assist farmers to reduce the riskof crop failure.

75

// WEST PAPUA / SWEET POTATOLABOREFFICIENCY:
POST-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Post-harvest

Sweet Potato

1 hour/day

Farmers have not yet applied any advanced post-harvest processing.
Post-harvest activities that are commonly done is in the form of washing,simple storing, sorting, packaging in gunny sacks, and selling. Simple
storing refers to keeping the crops in the house with no specific space(e.g., placed on the floor, in the kitchen). Prior to selling, sweet potatoes
are usually washed and sorted.

Example of direct selling to consumers. Sweet potatoes are sold in piles/bunches

KEY CHALLENGES
Minimal or no knowledge of sweet potato post-harvest processing among smallholder
farmers.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Support farmers by providing business developmenttraining.

// WEST PAPUA / SWEET POTATOENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Air

Water

Soil

Biodiversity

Environment
conservation
value

High

Med

Med

Med

Med

Conservation Impact
Commodity
Sweet Potato

Farmers we interviewed show environment conservation is achieved
through the minimal use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in sweet
potato cultivation. The only potential risk is the use of herbicide duringinitial land clearing, before planting. However, the risk of herbicide usage
is minimal since it is only sparsely used. Nevertheless, Farmers need to beaware so that water sources are not contaminated. Biodiversity
preservation is also in good terms, as sweet potato plantations are often
poly-cropped with cassava or banana trees.

Visiting sweet potato farm

KEY CHALLENGES
While there was no immediate challenge, farmer’s knowledge of organic fertilizer, which canpotentially increase yield, has been observed to be limited.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government, NGOs: Design programs and provide training for farmers on
subsidized organic fertilizers.
Farmer groups: Apply simple composting method to produce organic fertilizers
locally.

77

The Indonesian government has been working closely with farmers towards sustainable crop
production and improving farmers’ livelihood to reduce rural poverty. Many farmers are now supportedwith agricultural machinery, subsidized agricultural inputs, and on-field trainers. However, there areinconsistencies between the support provided by the government with the actual needs of farmers.
Therefore, it is critical to improve communication between farmers and related government agency toplan and map out the needs of farmers to maximize crop productivity.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANWEST KALIMANTANDEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW
PALM
RUBBER
RICE
COCONUT

// WEST KALIMANTAN / DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW
Table 8. Sanitation and Environment

Located on Borneo island, West Kalimantan
comprises 12 districts and two cities, with Kota
Pontianak as the capital city. With a population of
4.8 million inhabitants, 50% of the population live inthe coastal areas. As the dominant employment
sector, agriculture absorbs 1.1 million workers of thetotal labor force. The unemployment rate reaches
4.2%, with approximately 100 thousand inhabitants
who are unemployed. The province’s GRP per
capita is IDR 28 million where the agricultural &plantation sector is the main contributor. In 2017, theprovince’s poverty rate is 7.9%, slightly better than
the national rate of 10.1%.

SANITATION &ENVIRONMENTPROVINCIALRATE (%)

NATIONAL
AVERAGE (%)

Access to cleanwater*

41.6

66.7

Cooking with
firewood

29.4

29.7

Access to basic
sanitation

45.0

61.1

Environmental
index (0-100)

84.5(Satisfactory)

Satisfactory*Sources of clean water consist of tap water, distributed tap water, drilled well,
protected dug well, protected spring water that is used for household purposes.

ACCESS TO SANITATION ANDENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES:
Almost half of the population haveaccess to clean water. The provincial
rate is at 41.6% which still requires
improvement.
Accessible sanitation facilities in eachhousehold is 44.97%, still below thenational average at 61.1%.
The people still use firewood to cookwhich poses risk to the environment andhealth.
Despite forest fires that often occur, theenvironmental index (the quality of air,water, and forest) for West Kalimantan is
at a satisfactory level.

Source: Badan Pusat Statistik Provinsi Kalimantan Barat, 2017

COMMODITIESPALMUNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRUBBER

RICE

COCONUT

// WEST KALIMANTAN / DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW
DISTRIBUTION OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
Smallholder plantation farmers are mostly concentrated in Sanggau district (116,829 farmers) which is dominated by rubber plantation.
Distribution of Smallholder Farmers in West Kalimantan (2016)# of farmer

District

Number ofsmallholder
farmers HH

Ratio offarmers HH/
total HH

Sanggau

116,829

26%

Sambas75,426

14%

Sintang

69,25617%

Bengkayang

55,10315%

Ketapang

53,73211%

Kubu Raya

47,6439%Landak37,63411%

Kapuas Hulu

34,156

14%

Sekadau

33,14517%

Mempawah

29,31812%

Melawi

22,31411%

SambasSanggau
LegendBangkayang> 45,0000 – 15,000

KayongUtara

11,876

11%

Kota Singkawang

9,982

5%

0

0%

Kota Pontianak(High)

15,000 – 45,000 (Med)(Low)

Kubu Raya

Sintang81

// WEST KALIMANTAN / PALM
PALM IN WEST KALIMANTANCOMMODITY PERFORMANCELABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)

Yield

2,106,869 tons

Land

1,478,133 ha

Smallholder farmers

127,463 farmers

Products

Palm kernel

Varieties-

Known for its controversial palm sector industries, West Kalimantan is one of the provinces
in Indonesia with the largest area of palm plantation. The monoculture nature of theindustry has impacted the soil nutrients, groundwater pollution, and most of all loss of
biodiversity due to the intensive deforestation activity for land expansion.
Smallholder farmers also plant palm trees in smaller land plots. Aside from managing farms
individually, there are smallholder farmers who manage their palm plantations inpartnership with palm companies under plasma model. In this model, the lands are owned
by farmers but managed by companies. There are also cooperatives of smallholder farmers
who own and manage their palm plantation together.

ENVIRONMENTCONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMERINCOME(Livelihood)

The current farming practice of palm by smallholders in West Kalimantan showsthat environment is poorly preserved. Farmers burn land to start a palm
plantation – a common practice that heavily impacts biodiversity loss. The
monoculture nature of palm plantation requires high use of fertilizers andpesticides which negatively aﬀects soil and groundwater. In terms of laboreﬃciency, farmers rely on manual labor with limited machineries involved.
Despite of this, palm has higher value and more price stability in the current
market compare to other plantation crops.

83

// WEST KALIMANTAN / PALM
FARMER INCOME

CommodityMonthly income

Palm

Low

Med

High

The income of palm farmers is relatively high since there is a competitive
demand for the crop in the market. Since the rise of the global palm oil
market, palm plantation becomes one of the most important commodities
to the people in West Kalimantan. In recent years, independent
smallholder farmers are inclined to convert their land into palm plantation
because it brings economic beneﬁts to them. The palm sector has thebigger market, greater longevity, and more stable value compare to othercommon commodities.
Although palm price is relatively stable, smallholder farmers facediﬃculties in maximizing their harvest due to the limited knowledge on
modern farming and ﬁnancial capacity to provide farming inputs (e.g.,
fertilizers and pesticides) as they are relatively expensive. The local
government responds to this issue by providing training and assistance toregistered farmers group.

KEY CHALLENGES
Lack of transportation to load and sell crops directly to the factory results in farmers being
dependent on the middlemen.
It is common practice for farmers to take loans from the middlemen, which can only be paid
oﬀ by selling the harvests to the middlemen.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

Fresh palm fruit bunch

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Support and assist farmers group to establish acooperative that provides loans and pick-up services to improve farming activities.
Farmers groups: Commit to run the cooperative eﬃciently.

// WEST KALIMANTAN / PALM
FARMER INCOME: THE VALUE CHAIN
The diagram below shows the links in the palm value chain in West Kalimantan. The middlemen buy and collect the harvested crops from farmers
for IDR 1,200/kg. The middlemen then charge 20% higher to the factory to compensate for transportation cost. The price goes higher along thevalue chain as each player charges extra for the added value in the making process of palm-derived products.

SMALLHOLDER FARMERSPREHARVEST
Prepare land
Seeding
Apply fertilizers
and pesticides

HARVEST

POSTHARVEST

Maintain farmCollect palm fruit

Apply fertilizers
for next harvest

FACTORYMIDDLEMEN LARGEBUYERS

Buy and collectharvested crops
from farmers.
Transport and sellcrops to factory.

Process palm into
kernel and crude
oil.
Sell/export andtransport to large
buyers.

LARGE
BUYER
Supply kernel or
crude palm oil toprocessing
factories.

WHOLE
PROCESSOR CONSUMERSSELLER
Process andpackage kernel
or crude palm oil
into marketable
goods.
Sell towholesalers.

Distributemarketable
goods to retailers
in large quantity.

RETAILER

Sell goods toconsumers.

20%

Value added:

Price received by actors (per kg):

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN

IDR 1,200

Farmers

IDR 1,700

Middlemen85

// WEST KALIMANTAN / PALMLABOREFFICIENCY:
PRE-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Pre-harvestPalm

5 hours/day

In the pre-harvest stage, farmers invest in intensive labor work as it
involves land clearing, planting, regular fertilizing and weeding using
simple tools. This requires farmers to work in the ﬁeld approximately 5
hours a day during the pre-harvest stage. Palm requires high maintenanceas it is monoculture farming. It needs to be regularly cleaned from weeds,
dead branches, and protected from pests. Smallholders do not generally
give the distance between one tree to the other, so they can ﬁt more trees
on the plot. This practice, unfortunately, makes pests spread faster.

A palm fruit bunch harvested in West Kalimantan

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers are not equipped with suﬃcient knowledge to identify good quality seeds. Some
farmers are fraud victims from buying poor quality palm seeds for the price of high-quality
seeds.
Farmers tend to leave small distance between one tree to the other, which negatively aﬀects
the productivity of palm trees.
Fertilizer needs to be applied at least every three months; however, it is relatively expensive.
Farms left unmaintained are prone to plant disease and pest outbreak. However, some
farmers do not regularly clean their farm as it is laborious.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government: Support and facilitate farmers by providing adequate information
regarding farming practice and farming inputs (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides), anddeploy more trainers to support farmers’ facilitation initiative.
Farmers: Establish a farmers group to be able to access subsidized fertilizers and otherassistance from the local government, or substitute with organic fertilizers made of
empty palm bunches.

// WEST KALIMANTAN / PALMLABOREFFICIENCY:HARVEST

HOURS OF WORK

Commodity
Palm

Harvest4 hours/day

In general, palm harvest occurs every 12 to 15 days. During this stage, thework is labor intensive which requires 4 hours a day of ﬁeldwork.
Harvesting palm consist of manually cutting down the palm bunch, picking
up the oil palm loose fruit (brondolan) from the ground and mobilizing theharvested palm to the designated harvest collecting area. Even thoughsome of the farmers hire workers to cut down palm bunches, some others
do all the harvesting activity by themselves if the farm is less than 1
hectare. It is important to pick up all the ripe palm bunch at the right timeas the condition of the palm fruit is best within 24 hours after harvesting
period.

Palm fruit bunches in a collecting area

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers often experience crop failure due to ﬂooding, especially during rainy season.
Overﬂowing water in the palm plantation causes the palm fruit to rot.

RECOMMENDATIONS
NGOs, private palm company, farmers groups: Foster and facilitate knowledge andtechnology transfer among stakeholder/parties.

Farmers have not maximized their harvest due to the traditional tools used.
Loose fruits fallen from the bunch need to be gathered then transported altogether with thebunch to the gathering point. However, picking them up one by one from the ground is very
time-consuming and laborious.

Government, NGOs and farmers group: Assist farmers to identify and innovate
alternative harvesting technique/tool that is less laborious and aﬀordable.

87

// WEST KALIMANTAN / PALMLABOREFFICIENCY:
POST-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Post-harvestPalm

3 hours/day

In the post-harvest stage, farmers are less involved in laborious work
since crops are picked up directly by collectors.
The harvested fruits, or known as Tandan Buah Segar (TBS) (Fresh Fruit
Bunch), are ready to be sold and processed. Each month, the local
standard price of TBS is determined by a forum consist of local
government, farmers representative, and company representatives. Since
there are many middlemen and factories around West Kalimantan in thepast few years, farmers believe that price monopoly rarely happens as thecompetition in the market is quite high. Some farmers have their harvest
collected and purchased by the middlemen, while others with bigger plotsof land may choose to sell directly to factories, especially when they havethe mode of transportation.

Fresh fruit bunch being loaded on trucks to be dropped at the factory

KEY CHALLENGES
During peak harvesting time, or when the palm fruits supply is higher than the demand, someof the factories reject farmers who come with their palm fruits (who have been queueing fordays with a truckload of harvest in front of the factory).

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Factories and farmers: Establish a trading contract or a signed agreement thatspecifies the required amount of palm needs to be supplied by the farmers to thefactories.
Government and NGOs: Facilitate the communication between factories and farmers
and monitor the signed agreement.

// WEST KALIMANTAN / PALM
ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Air

Water

Soil

Biodiversity

Environment
conservation
value

Low

Low

Low

Low

Low

Conservation Impact
CommodityPalm

As the palm sector is promising and becomes the livelihood to many
farmers, a balance between environmental friendly practice andeconomic beneﬁt need to be practiced. The current farming practice ofpalm by smallholder farmers in West Kalimantan shows that land is poorly
preserved. From burning lands that heavily impacts biodiversity loss, tothe intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides which negatively aﬀects soil
and groundwater. One initiative to protect the forest, slowing down the
deforestation rate while maintaining the palm oil plantation is by enforcing
certiﬁcation.
RSPO for instance, is a not-for-proﬁt that gathers
palm-related stakeholders including smallholder farmers, to develop andimplement global standards for sustainable palm oil. Up until June 2017, inIndonesia, more than 110,000 farmers have been certiﬁed with plantation
area of 190,064 hectares.
Palm factory waste management field

KEY CHALLENGES
The farmers we interviewed are not well informed about the certiﬁcation, its signiﬁcance,and process.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs:
Raise awareness and provide understanding regarding the importance of having theplantation certiﬁed to farmers.
Ensure palm companies are members of the certifying body (e.g., RSPO) and abide by
all of its requirements.
Facilitate partnership between farmers and palm companies.

89

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RUBBERRUBBER IN WEST KALIMANTANCOMMODITY PERFORMANCELABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)Yield

261,717 tons

Land599,167 ha

Smallholder farmers
Products
Varieties

320,339 farmers
Liquid latex in lumps or
rubber sheet-

Rubber is one of the commodities in Indonesia with the highest export value. Indonesia is
the second biggest natural rubber producer in the world after Thailand. Its socio-economic
value is considered high since majority of rubber plantation in Indonesia is owned bysmallholder farmers (Gapkindo, 2017). Rubber has been planted in Sumatra and Kalimantan
since over ﬁve decades ago. Rubber is sold in the form of locally processed natural rubber
or known in local term as bahan olahan karet rakyat (bokar). Unfortunately, the global priceof rubber has experienced a sharp decrease in recent years, which directly aﬀects
smallholder farmers, and not to mention the involvement of middlemen in the trading
process where more so often exacerbates the price received by farmers.

ENVIRONMENTCONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMERINCOME(Livelihood)

The current farming practice of rubber by smallholders in West Kalimantan
shows that land is moderately preserved. Farmers plant other vegetation in
between rubber trees, and apply a modest amount of fertilizers andpesticides. The labor eﬃciency is rather moderate as farmers spend
approximately 3 hours every 3 days in the farm to tap rubber. The farmers’
income is relatively unstable since farmers have limited information about thecurrent price and low rubber quality produced by farmers.

91

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RUBBERFARMER INCOME

CommodityMonthly income

Rubber

Low

Med

High

The price of rubber has not been stable since its peak in the global market
a decade ago. During its peak in 2005/2006, a kilogram of natural rubber
lump harvested by local farmers was valued at IDR 30,000. Currently,
farmers receive no more than IDR 8,000/kg of rubber lumps. Local
farmers who see the little prospect in farming rubber are starting toconvert their land into palm plantation, a commodity with a higher value
market. Poor rubber quality is also a contributing factor to the low price.
This is due to the farmers’ poor practice of mixing the liquid with water,
pebbles, and soil before leaving it to coagulate into rubber lumps toincrease weight. The middlemen are aware of this practice which madethem charge a low price for the contaminated rubber lumps. This common
practice encourages the middlemen to apply the same price foruncontaminated rubbers.

Natural rubber lumps are weighed down in a collecting site

KEY CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONS

Low rubber price in the market aﬀects farmer income.

Local government: Enforce the regulation on rubber price to reach a fair price received
by farmers.

It is common practice for farmers to take loans from the middlemen, which can only be paid
oﬀ by selling the harvests to the middlemen.

Local government, NGOs: Support and assist farmers group to establish a cooperativethat provides loans (micro-ﬁnance services) to improve farming activities.
Farmers groups. Commit to run the cooperative eﬃciently.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RUBBERFARMER INCOME: THE VALUE CHAIN
The diagram below shows how the value of rubber is added at each link from smallholder farmers to manufacturers. Middlemen charge 11% higher
to the factory from the price they paid to farmers. The factory adds value by processing the rubber and charges 129% higher to large buyers. The
same principle applies to the next chain in line, where the price is charged higher for the value added to processing the rubber.

SMALLHOLDER FARMERSPREHARVEST
Prepare land
Seeding
Apply fertilizers
and pesticides
Clean the farmed
land

HARVEST

Tap the rubber
liquid into cups

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN

POSTHARVEST

MIDDLEMEN

FACTORY

Apply fertilizers
for next harvest
Clean the farmed
landCollect rubber lumps fromfarmers
Transport the rubber tofactory

Clean the rubber lumps
from any material
Dry the rubber into sheets
Process into SIR (Standard
Indonesian Rubber) 20

Value added:

11%

129%

IDR 6,500

IDR 7,200

Farmers

Middlemen

MANUFACTURERS

Distribute/export SIR 20 tomanufacturers

Process SIR into goods(eg. tires)
Package and distribute the
goods

33%

IDR 16,500
Price received by actors (per kg):

LARGE BUYERS

Factory

IDR 21,900

Large Buyer

93

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RUBBERLABOREFFICIENCY:
PRE-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Pre-harvest

Rubber4 hours/day

There are two types of rubber seeds that the local farmers grow: local
seeds and prime seeds. Local seeds are preferable because they are
more durable and immune to fungal diseases.
In the pre-harvest stage, farmers work around 4 hours a day in the field as
it involves seeding, planting and maintaining the farm. Most farmers weinterviewed apply the traditional method of planting, where there is norequired distance between trees.
Now, many farmers receive training from the agricultural department onsustainable farming methods. However, farmers do wish to receive moreregular training and continued monitoring.

A smallholder farmer’s rubber plantation in Sanggau, West Kalimantan

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers have limited knowledge of pest management. Without proper treatment, rubber
trees are easily exposed to diseases. One of them is Jamur Akar Putih (JAP), a fungal
disease which farmers admit not to have the solution at the moment.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Provide support to farmers in the form of training on pest
management.

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RUBBERLABOREFFICIENCY:HARVEST

HOURS OF WORK

Commodity
RubberHarvest3 hours/day

Rubber is usually harvested every three days, depending on the weather.
During harvest, farmers spend time in the ﬁeld up to 3 hours a day. The
rubber trees should be given a day or two to gather the liquid before
being tapped again. Farmers harvest the latex by making a diagonal
incision in the tree and putting a small plastic cup or a coconut shell on thetree bark. It is left to coagulate for three to seven days. Afterwards,
farmers can choose to sell it right away in the form of lumps or process it
into rubber sheets. Farmers maintain their farm by applying fertilizers andpesticides, however modestly due to the high price.

Harvested rubber

KEY CHALLENGES
Weather is a determining factor for the success of rubber harvesting. If it rains, it will spoil
the collected ﬂuids. If it rains heavily, it will wash away the entire harvest. This would heavily
aﬀect farmers’ earnings especially for those who rely on the plantation as their primarysource of income.

RECOMMENDATIONSNGOs and farmers: Assist farmers to identify and experiment with simple yetinnovative technology ideas to address the weather issue. Also, strengthen farmers’
ﬁnancial capacity by farming commodities on demand as an alternative income
source.

95

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RUBBERLABOREFFICIENCY:
POST-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Post-harvest

Rubber5 hours/day

Farmers invest most of their labor during post-harvest where it requires
them to work on average 5 hours a day. The rubber lumps are collectedfrom the shells, carried back to their homes, washed, and dried.
Technically, dry and clean lumps have a higher value than wet lumps.
However, farmers tend to sell the rubber lumps to the middlemen before
reaching the suﬃcient dryness level to earn immediate income. Rubber
sheets*, which is now produced only by a few farmers, is a value-added
product that can be sold at a higher price than rubber lumps (IDR
1,000-2,000 diﬀerence, per kilogram). However, farmers prefer producing
rubber lumps since the process of making them require less time andeﬀort compared to producing rubber sheets.

*Rubber sheets are semi-processed product; cleaned and dried, leaving low moisture level, andready to be processed again in rubber processing factories as commercial latex.
Rubber lumps at a collector’s pool

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers lack the means of transportation to carry their harvest to collector’s pool. They relyon the middlemen to collect and buy the natural rubber.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Farmers lack the information about the price dynamics in the market. They rely on theinformation given by the middlemen.

NGOs and farmers: Encourage farmers to create a community initiative to havecommunal trucks for pick-up and drop-oﬀ service as community assets.
Support farmers with access to market information and foster a two-way relationshipbetween farmers and middlemen.

Poor natural rubber processing practice by farmers (mixing rubber liquid with water, pebbles
and soil to increase weight) has exacerbated the rubber price.

Government, NGOs: Raise awareness and provide understanding to farmers
regarding the negativities of poor processing practice towards the price.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RUBBERENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Air

Water

Soil

Biodiversity

Environment
conservation
value

High

Med

Med

Med

Med

Conservation Impact
Commodity
RubberThe current farming practice of rubber by smallholder farmers weinterviewed shows that land is moderately preserved by planting othervegetation on the plot. However, more and more farmers are inclined tochange the agroforestry system into a monoculture system to improve
productivity. This transformation risks the loss of biodiversity. A survey
conducted by World Forestry Center in four villages in Kalimantan
identiﬁed 90 vegetation in agroforestry rubber plantations have beneﬁt as
medicinal plants. These plants are endangered if their habitat is changed
into monoculture system. Furthermore, rubber plantation mixed withother vegetation has high capacity in carbon reserve, as much as 40% of
secondary forest, thus play an important role in emission reduction.

Rubber plantation in Sanggau district, West Kalimantan

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers have limited knowledge regarding the eﬀects of a monoculture system on theenvironment.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Develop a land management policy that is feasible to balance
productivity while still preserving biodiversity.

97

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RICE
RICE IN WEST KALIMANTANCOMMODITY PERFORMANCELABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)

Yield

1,275,707 tons

Land433,934 ha

Smallholder farmers
Products
Varieties

241,882 farmers
Rice grains
Local variety, prime seeds

West Kalimantan is dubbed as Indonesia’s biggest ‘rice barn’ after Java island. Rice farmers
in West Kalimantan, especially those of rural areas who practice swidden farming, store
harvested grain for a year’s worth of rice consumption. These harvests are not for sale as it
is against the local tradition. This practice continues until now. Consequently, thegovernment still needs to import rice from neighboring provinces to fulﬁll consumer
demand, despite the province being the second largest rice producer in the country. To
prevent this from continuing, a government-led initiative on food self-suﬃciency
encourages farmers to increase rice production both for self-consumption and for-proﬁt to
improve the livelihood of farmers.

ENVIRONMENTCONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMERINCOME(Livelihood)

The current farming practice of rice by smallholders in West Kalimantan showsthat land is poorly preserved. As an intensiﬁed crop, farmers routinely apply
fertilizers and pesticides to maintain productivity especially rice of a prime seedvariety. In terms of labor eﬃciency, farmers rely on manual labor and somemachinery during cultivation. Rice gives a low contribution to the farmers’
income since the rice harvest is mostly for self-consumption and not for sale.

99

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RICEFARMER INCOME

CommodityMonthly income

Rice

Low

Med

High

As previously mentioned, the rice commodity gives a low contribution to
the farmers’ income since it is mostly for self-consumption. The harvest is
stored inside a barn for food reserve to be consumed in case of
emergency (e.g. shortage of rice in the market).
Prior to the recent rice ﬁeld plotting program by the national government,
local farmers practiced (and many are still practicing) swidden farming. For
the Dayak tribe, rice farming is seen as a culture and a form of eﬀort tosuﬃce one's household rather than an income-generating activity.
Interestingly, it is common for farmers to purchase packaged rice, usuallydistributed from Java island, in the market for daily consumption and as
they also prefer the taste and texture. For this reason, the local
government has attempted to assist farmers to self-suﬃce with the rice
they grow by subsidizing prime seed variety, similar to those farmed inJava.
Rice seedling

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers are still reluctant to sell their crop for ﬁnancial gain as it is perceived as goingagainst the local tradition.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANRECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Develop a business plan suitable for farmers that can improvetheir livelihood but at the same time respecting the local tradition, for example, developa scheme where a certain proportion of the harvest is for sale, and the rest is to bereserved.

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RICEFARMER INCOME: THE VALUE CHAIN
The rice value chain in West Kalimantan has fewer stakeholders involved. The diagram below shows that farmers sell rice to wholesalers, local
government (for rice reserve), and their neighbors. The wholesalers charge IDR 12,000/kg of rice when sold to the retailers in the market.

SMALLHOLDER FARMERSPREHARVEST
Prepare land
Seeding
Apply fertilizers
and pesticides

HARVEST

Harvest rice

POSTHARVEST
Threshing, drying
and milling rice

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN

WHOLESALERStore and package the rice

RETAILER

Sell products in the local market

LOCAL
GOVERNMENTNEIGHBOURS

Value added:

Price received by actors (per kg):

9%

IDR 11,000

IDR 12,000

Farmers

Wholesaler

101

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RICELABOREFFICIENCY:
PRE-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Pre-harvest

Rice

3 hours/day

Recently, farmers are introduced to a prime seed variety farmed withmodern technique (Hazton, jajar legowo) on permanent farmland, which
can be harvested up to 4 times a year – increasing yield. In the
pre-harvest stage, farmers are involved in activities such as plowing,
seedling, smoothing, and planting which requires them to work on
average 3 hours a day. The farmers we interviewed admitted that the dry
season could cause crop failure, particularly when they only rely on
rainwater to nourish their paddy ﬁelds since there is no irrigation system.

Prime seed variety in rice field

KEY CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONS

The government-subsidized farming inputs do not address the farmers’ needs, i.e., farmers
need fertilizers but given seeds instead.

Government and farmers group: Discuss and draft farming needs together with
farmers in order to provide the appropriate farming materials.

The lack of irrigation system poses a risk to crop failure which directly aﬀects farmers’ foodsecurity and income.

Government: Build a sustainable irrigation system that waters the farm evenly.
NGOs: Assist farmers to identify alternative irrigation that is appropriate to the land’s
topography.

Harmful pests are tough to exterminate, causing farmers to use pesticide more thanrequired which negatively aﬀects the crops, soil, and water.

Government and NGOs: Support and encourage farmers to use organic-based
pesticides.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RICELABOREFFICIENCY:HARVEST

HOURS OF WORK

Commodity
Rice

Harvest6 hours/day

Farmers invest much of their manual labor (on average 6 hours a day)during harvesting as they still use traditional harvesting tools. The farmers
we interviewed are members of farmers groups that regularly receive
technical assistance from the local government. This includes a technicalassistant that guides and monitors their farming activities, subsidized
farming inputs, and machinery to improve productivity. However, farmers
still prefer to use traditional tools such as ani-ani, a small knife, to cut eachstalk which is very time consuming and requires more people to work on
the farm in order to maximize harvest. Extra hires also mean further costthat farmers need to spend.

Rice fields in West Kalimantan

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers have not maximized their harvest due to the traditional tools used.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government: Actively assist and monitor the farming practice to ensure farmers apply
the appropriate harvesting method using machinery suitable for farmers to maximize
harvest.

103

// WEST KALIMANTAN / RICELABOREFFICIENCY:
POST-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Post-harvest

Rice

4 hours/day

In the post-harvest stage, farmers work around 4 hours a day to threshand mill rice. Farmers we interviewed store their crops in a barn. They sellrice to neighbors and sometimes package rice in small plastic bags thensell to the nearest local market. The government encourages farmers tosell their crops to improve the economy, and at the same time to avoid
importing rice from other provinces. To support this initiative, the local
government purchases rice from smallholders to start the business cycle
and also to reserve rice stock.

Rice storage

KEY CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONSRice still needs to be supplied from Java to fulﬁll food demand.

Government and farmers groups: Encourage farmers to sell their crops so that theregion can be self-suﬃcient in rice provision. Strengthen the current initiative of
farmers group -local government transaction and also collaborate with otherstakeholders to develop new markets with high demand.

Currently, there is no training for marketing and management of rice crops.

Government, NGOs: Provide post-harvest management skills in the form of regulartraining and monitoring.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
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// WEST KALIMANTAN / RICEENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Conservation Impact
Air

Water

Soil

Biodiversity

Environment
conservation

Med

Low

Low

Med

Low

Commodity
Rice

As previously mentioned, farmers are introduced with a new variety ofrice, prime seed – a government-led initiative to increase yield. Many
farmers are growing this variety since the seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides
are government subsidized. However, growing this type of rice requires
regular application of pesticide and fertilizer that makes it fall into the low
environmentally friendly spectrum. Concerns are raised related to soil
saturation, pest resistance and the extinction of non-target organism. Prior
to the introduction of the new variety, although low in yield and hard in
texture, the local variety farmers plant is more resistant towards
unpredicted weather, and pests, eliminating the needs of using fertilizer
and pesticide.

Milled rice

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers are overwhelmed with pests and are unable to control the outbreak especially ratsthat can cause significant crop failure.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Support farmers with training on pest management andcontrol as an early intervention.
Collaborate with agricultural research centers (e.g., universities) to identify andexperiment with interventions that may solve pest-related issues faced by farmers.

105

// WEST KALIMANTAN / COCONUT
COCONUT IN WEST KALIMANTANCOMMODITY PERFORMANCELABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)

Yield

87,664 tons

Land

107,006 ha

Smallholder farmers

77,713 farmers

Products

Fruit, copra, husk, leaf

Varieties

Local variety, hybrid
coconut

Coconut is one of the prime commodities of West Kalimantan, especially in Kubu Raya
district. In 2017, coconut production reaches 87,664 tons. Coconut is considered a
traditional plantation, having been grown by local people for decades. Most farmers growcoconut along with other vegetation in the plantation including areca nut trees and banana
trees. Almost all parts of a coconut tree have economic value and can be processed into avariety of value-added products. The husk, for instance, is used as fuel for farmers who
produce palm sugar. However, the most common products sold by smallholder farmers inWest Kalimantan are raw coconuts and copra since these are the only markets that farmers
have access to.

ENVIRONMENTCONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMERINCOME(Livelihood)

The current farming practice of coconut by smallholders in West Kalimantan
shows that land is well preserved. As a resilient type of plant, coconut trees do
not require an intense application of fertilizer and pesticide. The laboreﬃciency is relatively moderate as farmers depend on manual labor especiallyduring harvesting which is time-consuming. Coconut gives a modest
contribution to the farmers’ income since farmers sell them to the middlemen
who charge their product at a low price. Moreover, farmers tend to sell theunprocessed product such as raw coconuts, which have less added value inthe market.

107

// WEST KALIMANTAN / COCONUTFARMER INCOME

CommodityMonthly income

Coconut

Low

Med

High

In West Kalimantan, coconut is a traditional commodity where the landplots are mostly owned and managed by smallholders. There are villages
where coconut farming is the main source of livelihood.
As previously mentioned, the income of coconut farmers in West
Kalimantan is relatively moderate. Since coconuts are sold in the form of
unprocessed fruits, there is not much potential value that the farmers
could add into their harvest. Although other parts of the trees such as theleaves, sap, and husks can be processed as value-added products,
farmers do not have access to the right market.
Similar to rubber and palm, coconut farmers often take loans from the
middlemen where loans are paid oﬀ by selling their harvest to the
middlemen. In the coconut value chain, farmers who do not own means oftransportation ﬁnd it easier to sell their harvest to the middlemen as theycome to pick-up and buy the coconuts on site.
Coconut tree seedlings

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers lack access, knowledge, and entrepreneurial skills to maximize the economic valueof their harvest.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Government and NGOs: Provide training support on entrepreneurial skills. Assist
farmers in developing a feasible business module/plan, and monitor their activities.
Farmers: Commit to following the training and in conducting the business plan.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// WEST KALIMANTAN / COCONUTFARMER INCOME: THE VALUE CHAIN
The value chain below shows that raw coconut is sold by farmers to the middlemen at IDR 1,800/kg. More so than often, the middlemen purchasecoconuts at the same price however per unit, which decreases farmers’ income since one coconut can weigh more than one kilogram.

SMALLHOLDER FARMERSPREHARVEST
Prepare land
Build trench
Seeding
Apply fertilizers
and pesticides (ifneeded)HARVEST

Collect coconuts
from trees
Gather andde-husk coconuts

POSTHARVEST
Maintainembankment toirrigate coconut
trees
Apply fertilizer
and pesticides ifnecessary

Value added:

Price received by actors (per kg):

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE VALUE CHAIN

Grade the coconuts
Transport coconuts totrading point

56%

IDR 1,800

Farmers

LARGE BUYERS

MIDDLEMEN

Gather coconut supply at
district/province level
Supply sorted coconut toprocessing factories,
markets and retailers

FACTORIES

Process coconuts into
various value-added
products

RETAILERS

Sell products to
consumers25%

IDR 2,800

Middlemen

IDR 3,500

Large Buyers

109// WEST KALIMANTAN / COCONUTLABOREFFICIENCY:
PRE-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Pre-harvest

Coconut

5 hours/day

In general, farmers spend a moderate amount of work and time on thefarm to build a trench, seedling, and plant coconuts. This requires farmers
to work around 5 hours a day during pre-harvest. It takes approximately
4-8 years for coconut trees to bear fruits and ready to harvest, dependingon the type of seeds, soil condition, and farm maintenance.
The farmers we interviewed plant local and hybrid coconut variety. The
hybrid variety is a premier type usually subsidized by the government toincrease productivity. To ensure the water source required for growing thetrees is suﬃcient, farmers dig the trench along the ﬁeld to irrigate thetrees.

Coconut plantation

KEY CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONS

Subsidized coconut seed is not compatible with local soil condition.

Government: Conduct thorough research regarding the topography of the targetedarea involving farmers’ input, before commencing the subsidy program.

Farmers do not have deep trenches because digging the trench with good depth islabor-intensive, especially if the farm area is large.

Government: Support farmers with agricultural machinery to eﬀectively build deeper
trenches.

Unpredictable weather causes the pistil of the coconut to come oﬀ early, reducing coconut
yield.

NGO and farmers groups: Collaborate with agricultural research centers (e.g.,
universities) to identify and experiment with interventions that may solve
weather-related issues.

Farmers have little knowledge of how to increase coconut productivity.

Government: Support farmers by allocating more agricultural trainers to guide them inmaximizing coconut productivity.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// WEST KALIMANTAN / COCONUTLABOREFFICIENCY:HARVEST

HOURS OF WORK

Commodity

HarvestCoconut

5 hours/day

During harvesting, farmers work up to 5 hours a day as coconut picking isdone manually. Coconuts are harvested 3 to 4 times a year. Farmers yieldapproximately 2,000 units/ha from each harvest.
Farmers still use traditional tools to harvest – a machete and a sickle. They
carve nooks in the tree bark to be used as stepping areas when climbing
the tree. When farmers are on top of the tree, they cut the bunch of
coconuts and throw it to the ground. The climbing activity is generally
done by male farmers or hired workers, whereas female household
members are responsible for gathering the harvest into a pile.

A farmer cutting open young coconut

KEY CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONSHarvesting coconut is laborious and time-consuming. Some farmers cannot maximize theirharvest since they cannot aﬀord to hire extra workers.

Government, NGOs and farmers groups: Assist farmers to identify and experiment
alternative harvesting techniques that are less laborious and aﬀordable.

Farmers are prone to injury during the harvesting process.

Government, NGOs and farmers groups: Raise awareness regarding the importanceof safety at work, and provide safety equipment such as helmets, pads, gloves, andropes.

111

// WEST KALIMANTAN / COCONUTLABOREFFICIENCY:
POST-HARVESTHOURS OF WORK

Commodity

Post-harvest

Coconut

2 hours/day

In the post-harvest stage, farmers usually process coconuts into copra orsell them as raw coconuts which do not require heavy labor work (2 hours
a day).
Coconuts that are poor in quality are dried and sold in the form of copra.
As previously mentioned, farmers sell directly to middlemen where theycome to pick up the products at the plantation using trucks.
Aside from copra and raw coconuts, the husks and the leaves are also
sold to be processed into household crafts. However, there is no stable
market for these products, which is why farmers focus on selling coconuts
and copra only.

Halved coconuts being dried into copra

KEY CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONS

Farmers lack access to market information. They depend on the information given by the
middlemen.

NGOs and farmers groups: Assist farmers on ways to better access market information
especially the market demands of other value-added products.
Foster a two-way relationship between farmers and middlemen.

Many farmers are still tied to debt with the middlemen. This requires farmers to only sell
their harvest to the middlemen to pay oﬀ their debt.

Government, NGOs and farmers groups: Help farmers to access alternative
micro-ﬁnance institution.
Establish a farmers’ cooperative that provides loan and savings services.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

// WEST KALIMANTAN / COCONUTENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Air

Water

Soil

Biodiversity

Environment
conservation
value

Med

High

High

High

High

Conservation Impact
Commodity
Coconut

Coconut in West Kalimantan is considered as an environment-friendly
plantation. This is because most farmers are not using intensive chemical
substances. Trees are left to grow naturally. The organic way still gives
satisfactory yield; thus this practice continues. Additionally, land burning is
also minimal as this plant is easy to grow without disrupting thesurrounding environment.
However, for post-harvest processing, farmers usually leave coconut
husks piling up beside their houses. Farmers do not know what to do withthem and burn them in the open space, hence polluting the air.

Environment surrounding coconut plantation

KEY CHALLENGES
Farmers have limited knowledge and skills on how to manage coconut waste.

RECOMMENDATIONS
NGOs: Provide farmers with technical support on how to recycle waste and make it into
good use such as biomass fuel, coconut briquette, and coco peat.

113

The key findings provide us with a better understanding of current agricultural practices in thethree provinces and their impact on farmers’ livelihood and the environment. This allows us tosuggest, design and experiment potential solutions in the next step towards sustainableagriculture that is in favor of all stakeholders involved, in particular, the smallholder farmers.

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
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// METHODOLOGY

OutcomeDescription

PHASE 1: DESK-BASED RESEARCH
The team conducted desk-based research to explore the overall
agricultural sector and livelihood in Papua, West Papua, andWest Kalimantan. The research covered the demographic,
environment, social, and economic situation of the threeprovinces.
Gained an in-depth understanding of the agricultural livelihood
sector.
Identiﬁed and mapped common commodities cultivated bysmallholder farmers, to be visited in the next phase of theresearch.

PHASE 2: FIELD VISIT
The team traveled to each area to visit smallholder farmers,
business owners, and other important actors in the value
chain of the selected commodities to identify the farmers’
challenges in agricultural work.

Obtained relevant data to better understand the activities andchallenges that farmers faced in the commodity value chain,and how these aﬀect their livelihood and the environment.

115

// METHODOLOGY / COMMODITY IDENTIFICATION INDEXSELECTION CRITERIA
A number of criteria were applied in selecting commodities to ensure suitability for this research. Data on staple
crops, horticulture, and plantation were collected. These datasets were narrowed down using prevalence factor
listed below to produce the Commodity Identification Index (CII).

Selection criteria

Type of commodities

Prevalence factors

Description

Staple cropSocialNumber of farmers

Horticulture

Economic

Monetary value ofeach commodity

Plantation

Environment

Plantation

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

OutputCommodity
Identification
Index

// METHODOLOGY / COMMODITY IDENTIFICATION INDEXTHE FORMULA
To construct a Commodity Identification Index (CII), we integrated several indicators into a single index, on thebasis of the multidimensional aspects of the commodities’ impact on society, economy, and environment.

Commodity Identification Index Formula

CIIi =

Soci + Ecoi + Envi
3

Commodity Identification Index Indicators

AspectVariable

WeightSocialNumber offarmers

33%

Economics

Commodity
monetary
value

33%

Green houseconversion

33%

Environment

Variable

Calculation

Challenge

Number of farmers

Total farmers in each commodity

Data availability on total
farmers

Total yield (tonnes)

Total yield ( Tonnes) * Commodity
price (IDR)

Some commodities are boundto international price

Farm area (ha) * GHG Equivalent(CO 2 - eq.)

Defining green house gas
equivalent on each type ofcommodities

Commodity price (IDR)
Farm area (ha)Green House Gas Equivalent ( CO 2 - eq.)117

// METHODOLOGY / COMMODITY MAPPING
SELECTION CRITERIA
By using the Commodity Identification Index as a selection tool, the commodities were prioritized based on thenumber of smallholder farmers and top yield per commodity in each district. The mapping process generated theintended locations for our research.

Commodity Mapping Process

Commodity selection tool

Consideration point in selecting location

Commodity
Identification Index

Number of farmers by location
Top yield by location

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

OutputFeatured commodities andlocation// METHODOLOGY / LOCAL PARTNER
SELECTION CRITERIA
Depending on the need for field assistance in each area, we sought partnerships with local actors such as NGO,
local authorities, and community organizations. After selecting possible local partners in the three provinces, we
conducted an assessment based on the prevalence factor, including but not limited to: characteristics, the scale ofwork, and network.
Selection criteria

Prevalence factors

Description

SocialNGO, Local authorities, community organization

Economic

Village, Regency, and National coverage

Environment

Past experiences to assist foreign NGO, widespread of the local contacts

119// METHODOLOGY / RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
By employing a qualitative approach, this study was based on a framework we developed drawing on Packard’s
initiative on agriculture, livelihood, and conservation. The parameters we used to address each of the initiatives
respectively are (i) labor eﬃciency, (ii) farmer income, and (iii) environment conservation. The chosen commodities
were analyzed based on the three parameters to identify farmers’ challenges and to provide potential solutions in
improving farmers’ competitiveness in the value chain.
LABOR EFFICIENCY(Agriculture)

ENVIRONMENTCONSERVATION(Conservation)

FARMERINCOME(Livelihood)
Value

Parameters

Variable observed
Low (1)

Medium (2)High (3)Labor Eﬃciency

The investment of manual labor in eachstages of production (based on hours/day)Labor intensive(>4.1 hours of labor/day)

Medium usage of labor(3-4.1 hours of labor/day)Less dependent on manual labor(<3 hours of labor/day)

Farmer income

Farmers income /month/ha< IDR 1,000,000/month/ha

IDR 1 ,000,000 -2,000,000/month/ha> IDR 2 ,000,000/month/ha

Environment
conservation• Air (land burning practice)• Soil (chemical fertilizer usage)• Water (chemical pesticide usage)• Biodiversity (variety of crops in the farm)High practice of burning land,
using chemical substances,and monoculture plantation

Moderate practice of burning land andusing chemical substances, andplanting more than one variety of crops

Low (no) practice of burning land
using chemical substances, andplanting various type of crops

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTAN

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// ABOUT KOPERNIKKOPERNIK CONDUCTS EXPERIMENTS IN ORDER TO FIND WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN’T
TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS FACED BY THOSE LIVING IN POVERTY. WE PLACE UTMOSTIMPORTANCE ON WORKING TO ACHIEVE THE SDGS FOR, AND WITH LAST MILE COMMUNITIES.

OUR VISIONOUR MISSIONOUR WORK

Finding what works to reduce poverty in thelast mile

A world where disadvantaged people living in
the last mile can realize their full potential andenjoy a dignified life, free of poverty

Through rapid prototyping andexperimentation, we work directly with last
mile communities, and in collaboration with
our partners from the development, public
and private sectors to reduce poverty

UNMET NEEDS REPORT 2018
SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PAPUA, WEST PAPUA & WEST KALIMANTANAuthors of this report:
This report was researched and written by Kopernik's Last Mile
Consulting team, namely Annisa Nurulhuda, Dianty Ningrum,
Nanda Riska, Radityo Hutomo, Stevan Chondro and Tomo
Hamakawa. Other Kopernik members contributed to the research,
including Fera Ketti, Gumilang Andika, Laetitia Lemaistre, andVanesha Manuturi.