In South Sulawesi (Sulsel) beef production is constrained by the quantity, quality and continuity of forage supply, and inappropriate herd management practices. Previous ACIAR projects have developed strategies to redress these constraints at the farm level, by establishing annual feed-plans based on crop residues, perennial or annual forages, tree legumes, or diet supplements in association with appropriate herd management strategies. This project is building on earlier project experience to increase the scope and cover a wider range of agro-ecological zones and socio-economic systems in Sulsel, extending adoption practices to an additional 12 communities. The modality deployed in this project is intended to become the model for extension services in Sulsel.
Activities in the first year of the project were focused on establishing teams and facilities, selecting and engaging with communities in the three study regions, developing protocols and beginning the 'best bet' process with communities and farmers.
The project employed 14 On Ground Team (OGT) members and one Project Officer in November 07 after an intensive recruitment process in August and September. The team is an impressive group of recent graduates and recruits with experience in smallholder farming systems and comprises skills in socio-economics, animal management, forage monitoring and smallholder farming - all with abilities in regional languages.
The OGTs have received theoretical and practical training from SulSel and Australian specialists on an array of topics including forage analysis and monitoring, nursery establishment and maintenance, animal nutrition and health, farming systems and modelling and engagement and social survey techniques. Most OGT training is also attended by local agricultural extension staff from the project's study villages.
To ensure effective project coordination, a multi-level team structure was established. The Project Management Team is responsible for operations & coordination; the Project Specialist Team is responsible for technical expertise & training and the On Ground Team is responsible for implementation & extension. A start-up meeting attended by all teams was held in Makassar in November 07.
In addition, a Steering Committee was established in November 07, comprising representatives from Dinas Peternakan at provincial and regency levels, BPTP, UNHAS and CSIRO. The Committee's role is to provide overall guidance and advice on the direction and relevance of the project.
Farming systems data were collected from all villages in the three study regencies - Barru, Gowa and Bone. Criteria for village selection included size and relative importance of cattle population, access to study sites, willingness of the community to participate and scope and willingness for adopting improved technology and recommendation of regional and local agricultural extension officers. Twelve study villages were selected in January. Village benchmarking (social, economic and cultural information) and mapping is due to be completed in May.
In January, OGTs were placed in Barru, Gowa and Bone regencies. Introductions were made to local farmers, heads of village and local government officials. Accommodation, office space and facilities were sought in each region.
This project builds on cattle and forage improvement tools and technologies developed by precursor ACIAR projects, and successfully tested and implemented by ACIAR project AS2/2004/005 (Improving smallholder crop-livestock systems in eastern Indonesia). In essence, the improvement technologies (Best Bets) are:
Making better use of existing forages in a farming system
Introducing new forages
Seasonal (controlled) mating to match feed supply and labour needs
Preferentially feeding particular animals
Feed budgeting and planning to meet forecast feed demands
Best Bet activities in the first field season will be predominantly focused on managing forage resources. Other options will be negotiated incrementally.
Due to the late start of the project, the project team was not able to launch the Best Bet process (village workshop to identify constraints and options for increased cattle production; negotiation of Best Bet options with individual farmers; design and establishment of on-farm trials and monitoring) during the main 07-08 wet season.
However, the project team is taking advantage of Bone's bimodal wet season ('small wet' from December to March and 'big wet' from April to July) to launch Best Bet activities in that regency's four study villages.
A priority for the project team over the next six months is to finalise the model, methods and monitoring for scale-out activities for years 2 and 3. These will be largely be informed by the results and findings of the AS2/2004/005 project. Activities to date supporting scale-out include farmer-to-farmer visits, extension worker joint training, village and farmer group meetings and use of farmer and OGT diaries.
Communication and engagement activities in year one include: organising or facilitating participating farmer visits to established Best Bet farmers, producing the first edition of a project newsletter which will be distributed to relevant institutions in South Sulawesi, Lombok and Australia; and engaging proactively with key regional stakeholders, including Dinas Peternakan at provincial and local levels, and heads of participating and interested villages in the study region.
Links:
[1] http://www.aciar.gov.au/country/Indonesia