Agriculture

The economic and environmental resilience of smallholder farmers who produce rubber, oil palm, cocoa, and coffee at the base of global supply chains is improved.

Many independent smallholder farmers in Kapuas Hulu cultivate estate crops in monoculture on small farm plots of typically two hectares or less. With this approach, they are extremely vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity world market prices, pests, diseases and impacts of climate change. This means that smallholder farmer’s livelihoods are no longer economically, socially and environmentally stable.

To mitigate smallholder farmer vulnerability, it is necessary to diversify smallholder farm production. The goal is to create more stable and robust production systems that are better adapted to the changing climate, enhance farm biodiversity and increase the range of products, thereby increasing resilience.

The project supports smallholder farmers in tackling global challenges and mitigating preventable risks. To increase the resilience of independent smallholder farmers to negative external shocks, the project aims to:

• advise and provide technical support to improve smallholder farmers’ (both women and men) and agricultural extension staff’s knowledge of agro-ecological approaches, including agroforestry, permaculture, regenerative farming and climate-smart agricultural practices
• improve smallholder farmers’ market access to local and global markets and supply chains
• raise government agencies’ awareness for resilient and deforestation-free supply chains
• promote successful, field-tested concepts and approaches that support smallholder farmer resilience