LPS: Scaling-up herd management strategies in crop-livestock systems in Lombok, Indonesia

The project is progressing well and is ahead of its proposed schedule. Activities in the first year focused on establishing teams and methodologies, selecting and working with communities in the study region, and creating opportunities for engagement with key farming and institutional stakeholders.

The project employed 12 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, and all have ability in Sasak language.

The OGT has received theoretical and practical training from Lombok and Australian specialists on an array of topics such as forage assessment, management and monitoring, nursery establishment and maintenance, animal nutrition and health, farming systems and modelling, data management, socio-economics and extension practices. Most OGT training is also attended by local agricultural extension staff from the project's study villages.

Two students also joined the project in 2008. One is undertaking a Masters degree in forage agronomy and diversity. The other is completing a PhD on the impacts of improving the availability of introduced and local forages on cattle productivity under smallholder conditions, covering aspects of forage composition and quality, preferential feeding and the impact of forage legumes on livestock performance and farmer adoption.

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 Lombok in November 07.

In addition, an Advisory Committee was established in November 07, comprising representatives from the local government, BPTP, University of Mataram, Dinas Peternakan, NGOs, CSIRO and the farming community. The Committee's role is to provide overall guidance and advice on the direction and relevance of the project.

Despite a late start to the project, 12 kandang communities were selected by January 08, in addition to two demonstration or 'training' kandangs. Criteria for selection included cattle population, ownership status and security of the kandang, willingness of the community to participate and scope for adopting improved technology, particularly in terms of labour and land. The OGT completed the compilation of socio-economic and cultural data from the kandang communities in February 08, after developing and trialling a benchmarking survey.

Ten new kandangs have now been selected for the second year of the project and a similar benchmarking process is underway.

The project team is using a three-step approach to adoption of livestock technologies, based on farmer perceptions of need and potential for improvement. Step one is improvement of existing kandang facilities and provision of a communal bull (thereby ensuring controlled mating). Community negotiation about renovations was facilitated by the OGT and other team members and renovations were completed by the community in May 08. Renovations commonly include construction of bull and calf pens and improved kandang drainage. Bulls will be purchased and introduced to the kandangs in early June08.

The second step is improving the forage resource and to this end, small demonstration nurseries have been established by OGT and farmers at each participating kandang to demonstrate new forages, management techniques and aspects of animal nutrition. The third step is the introduction of other breeding management strategies shown to be successful in previous ACIAR projects (eg early weaning and preferential feeding of calves).

Communication and engagement activities in year one include: hosting international visitors interested in the design and progress of the project; featuring in print media articles in key regional newspapers; producing the first edition of a project newsletter which was distributed to relevant institutions in Lombok, South Sulawesi and Australia; organising or facilitating participating farmer visits to demonstration sites, the university forage nursery and other participating kandangs; and engaging regularly with key regional stakeholders, including the Bupati of Central Lombok, Dinas Peternakan at regional and local levels, Bappeda in Central Lombok and heads of participating and interested villages in the study region.