FAO Permanent Representatives Learn about Indonesian Agriculture

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Permanent Representations of eight member countries to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) sent delegates on a field visit to Indonesia. The mission met with Government Representatives in Jakarta before visiting Central Java and Bali to learn about FAO’s support to the Government’s efforts to improve agricultural development in the country. The delegation comprised participants from, Algeria, Australia, Chile, Jordan, Nigeria Norway, Thailand, and the United States.

“This field visit is enabling the Permanent Representatives to obtain a first-hand impression of the work that the FAO Country Office to support Indonesia’s people, and to meet our beneficiaries and collaborators, “Stephen Rudgard, FAO Representative in Indonesia said during the visit.

The mission was welcomed in Jakarta on October 31 by Indonesia Vice Foreign Minister A.M Fachir at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accompanied by representatives of four technical Ministries.  The delegation also met with the heads of several UN agencies and international development partners to hear their impressions of the work of FAO in Indonesia.

The delegation travelled to Central Java to visit rice-fish (mina-padi) demonstration farm in Sukoharjo where FAO collaborates with the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and the local authorities who are supporting farmers to develop innovative practices.  The participants joined the grand harvest of rice and fish together with the farmers and the head of Sukoharjo regency, Wardoyo WIjaya.

After Sukoharjo, the mission went to Yogyakarta, to learn about a Ministry of Agriculture programme supported by FAO and USAID that is working to enhance efforts to detect and eradicate outbreaks of poultry diseases that also threaten the human population. The mission made visits to a poultry market and to the Government’s Diseases Investigation Center in Wates which is provincial focal point for the programme.

At the last day, the mission visited Sibetan village, Karangasem, Bali, to learn about the Salak (Snake Fruit) Agroforestry project, which the Government is proposing for registration as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS).

The proposed GIAHS site includes a landscape rich in important biodiversity, which has evolved into a co-adaptation of a community with its environment. The Salak farmers in Sibetan managing the agroforestry system draw on generations of local wisdom and philosophy that has been handed down over more than 14 centuries.

The head of delegation, Permanent Representative of Nigeria, Dr. Yaya Adisa Olaitan Olaniran summarized his feelings, saying “We are leaving Indonesia with the memory of how things should be done, and we truly appreciate the Government, the people and the FAO staff in Indonesia.”

TEMPO.CO