South-South cooperation: Indonesian apprenticeship program for African rice farmers

Abstract

The success of Indonesia in achieving rice self-sufficiency in 1984 motivated Indonesian farmers to share the fortune with their fellow African farmers who suffer from drought and food shortage. A fund amounting to an equivalent value of 100,150 t of rice was raised and donated to needy farmers in several African countries. The donation was at first given in cash through the Food and Agriculture Organization and later on, beginning 1990, was allotted in the form of technical assistance comprising an apprenticeship program in Indonesia and expert assistance to African countries. The goal of the apprenticeship program is to help African countries increase food production, particularly rice, by improving farmers’ capabilities in applying proper cultivation technologies and sound farm-business management. As an educational process, this program provides selected African participants with practical learning experience through interaction with Indonesian host-farmers who serve as facilitators of learning in rice farming activities. In addition, the participants are given practical knowledge and skills through a structured training to complement the farmer-to-farmer learning process. Since 1990, eleven groups comprising a total of 163 apprentice farmers from 14 countries have participated in the program. Many of them have successfully applied in their own farms what they have learned from Indonesian farmers. In the future, more farmers from many African countries will be invited to join the program, either in Indonesia or in the outreach training facilities to be established by the program in Tanzania and The Gambia. Broad-based evaluation showed that most participants regard their experience in both technical and social aspects as meaningful and useful. They also expressed their willingness to apply the technologies they have learned as well as share the experience with fellow farmers. The importance of thorough assessment of training needs, careful selection of host farmers and field facilitators, clear information on the objectives and nature of the program to both prospective participants and host farmers, and intensive supervision are some lessons learned by the organizers from 6 yr of experience. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia and the Indonesia Agricultural Society Foundation as organizers of the apprenticeship program pay serious attention to the quality improvement and the continuity of the program for the benefit of African farmers and the enhancement of South-South cooperation.