IndoDairy annual meeting
Blog post prepared by Jack Hetherington
The IndoDairy project is a research collaboration between Australian and Indonesian research agencies aiming to contribute to increasing milk supply (quantity and quality) by 25% by 2020 for at least 3,000 dairy producers in the geographic locations of West Java and North Sumatra: an ambitious target, but one the project, led by the Centre for Global Food and Resources (CGFAR), is using to help guide its activities. And with less than 18 months to left, the project is heading towards the ‘end game’.
The whole IndoDairy project team met in Bogor on the 22nd of January for its annual meeting: to share the results and outputs of the work completed so far and collectively plan what the future activities will focus on.
The IndoDairy Annual Meeting, Bogor Indonesia, 22 January 2019
During the workshop there were representatives from all of the project collaborators, including: Prof. Wendy Umberger, Jack Hetherington, and Zita Ritchie from GFAR, Dr. Brad Granzin from Subtropical Dairy, representatives from the Indonesian Centre for Animal Research and Development (ICARD), the Indonesian Centre for Agricultural Socio Economic and Policy Studies (ICASEPS) , Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
Since the project commenced in June 2016, there have been a range of activities designed and implemented, and more currently under design. Below is a summary of what the project team has achieved so far:
Under Objective 1:
Identify and recommend strategies and policies to support development of sustainable, profitable and smallholder-inclusive dairy supply chains in North Sumatra and West Java.
- Developed and published Business Guidelines and Opportunities for Heifer Importation in Indonesia
- Conducted and commenced the analysis of the dairy value chain in West Java and North Sumatra to identify whole-of-chain opportunities to support smallholder dairy farming, including inclusive and sustainable business models.
- Conducted a review of government policies and regulations affecting the Indonesian dairy sector.
- Engaged with policy and industry stakeholders to encourage dialogue regarding the findings of our research findings and potential pathways to support the growth of Indonesia’s dairy industry.
Under Objective 2:
Identify barriers to adoption of profitable management practices and develop strategies to inform development of extension programs in West Java and North Sumatra.
- Conducted a detailed survey of 600 dairy households in West Java between July and September 2017, capturing information about dairy household and farm characteristics, technology adoption, attitudes and perceptions, access to information and profitability.
- Commenced the publication of the IndoDairy Smallholder Household Survey (ISHS) ‘Farm-to-Fact’ Series online summarising descriptive characteristics of the baseline survey.
Under Objective 3:
Develop, pilot and evaluate best-bet dissemination to improve adoption of innovative dairy management practices by smallholder farmers in West Java.
- An Extension Advisory Working Group (EAWG) was formed by the project and has met to give feedback to the project on the design and implementation of the project activities. The EAWG is made up of the Indonesian research, development and extension (RD&E) agencies, five dairy co-operatives and the project team.
- Completed and published a Review of International Extension Theory and Methodologies. Additionally, the project has also undertaken a review of relevant dairy extension programs in Indonesia.
- Provided training to Indonesian researchers and extension officers on advanced cattle nutrition.
- Commenced a feed-base field study, aiming to demonstrate the effect of high crude protein concentrates and mineral supplement on milk productivity and profitability.
- As part of the feed study, the project employed five recent graduates of the Padjadjaran University to be the Village Level Researchers (VLRs) supporting the on-the-ground research and engaging directly with the farmers in the 5 regions the project is operating.
Selfie time with Dr. Rodd Dyer (ACIAR) and the IndoDairy team, including: Dr. Brad Granzin, Jack Hetherington, Prof. Wendy Umberger, Zita Ritchie and the Village Level Researchers (VLRs) – Rizky, Attin, Elis, Rio and Oji.
For the remainder of the project… what can you expect?
For the remaining 17 months left on the project, the team is very excited to take the findings from the feed trial, and look at a broad range of technologies and management practices that will improve dairy farming systems and consider how the best way is to package and extend this information to farmers. The project will be looking at different approaches to farmer training and knowledge transfer through localized discussion groups and Focus Farms.
Additionally, there is a lot of interest from the government and industry to improve the quality of milk being produced, in particular bacterial contamination. Therefore, the project is aiming to partner with a milk processor in West Java to develop price incentive program to evaluate the change in farmer behavior, milk quality and farm-gate prices.
To round the project off, an end-line survey will be conducted to measure the short-run and potential long-term impacts of the project.