出版社：Rural Development Institute, Brandon University
摘要：Since around 1990, Indonesia had been importing about 40% of its entire beef consumption. To reduce its reliance on imports, Indonesia launched the beef self-sufficiency programme (BSSP), which operated between 2005 and 2014, with the aim being to reduce imports of beef cattle to 10% of national demand by 2014. This was particularly challenging at the time because the demand for beef had continuously increased for a number of years. The aim of this case study was to investigate how Indonesian smallholder farmers perceived their own beef-cattle production in line with the BSSP, with a particular focus on the way in which the programme was implemented. The present study is based on the findings from 14 semi-structured qualitative interviews carried out with smallholder beef-cattle farmers from the Central Java Province in Indonesia. A modified grounded theory approach was used to analyze the data, using the software program Transana. The study showed that the farmers were mostly unaware of the existing government policies on beef-cattle farming, i.e., regarding the BSSP, including the overall aim of these policies. Furthermore, the activities they did know about they viewed as individual activities run in isolation, rather than parts of a grander plan or overall larger targeted programme—note, in this paper, we refer to these individual activities as 'fragments'. The farmers who took part in the interviews outlined the challenges they faced in increasing the quantity and quality of their beef cattle. The participating farmers also outlined their experiences of how elements of the BSSP were presented to them and how these initiatives were taken up (by themselves, colleagues, or in the local community). The results of the present study show that the farmers were mostly not aware of the overarching policies like BSSP, and hence there is a clear need for the government, i.e., via the Livestock and Fishery Office, to improve how it disseminates knowledge and information about its policy programmes, particularly to the players most affected by those policies. We identified a clear need for the relevant government institutions to take the initiative and work more closely with the main players, in this case the beef-cattle farmers. Involving the farmers is considered crucial in order to create and maintain sustainable beef production. Considering the farmers' perspectives of how extension agents approach the practical implementation of governmental agricultural policy programme, such as the BSSP, we furthermore suggest that more transparent communication is needed, together with the closer involvement of farmers in all stages of the programme, i.e., not just in implementation, but also in the design and planning stages, as well as in the post-programme evaluation, in order to learn effective lessons to improve future programme delivery. Keywords: Indonesia; smallholder farmers; beef cattle; farmer perceptions
