Improving Institutional Capacity:
Strengthening Farmer Organizations in the OIC Member Countries
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– and thus the control of the agricultural economy - belongs mostly to transnational
corporations and traders, with smaller farmers losing control.
However, recent policy developments have been positive, though implementation is still
ongoing. Currently, Indonesia has a broadly focused Ministry of Co-operatives and SMEs aimed
at formulating conducive policies and developing the co-operative and small enterprise sector.
Since 2003, it has generated a major policy intervention in the FO space – the Land
Management and Policy Development Project, which involved the Land Redistribution and
Land Reform Plus initiatives. These programmes sought to improve farmers’ security of tenure
by reforming institutional mechanisms, such as titling and land certification. While this
development is welcome, the KPA argues that this process has not fully restructured land
ownership and management patterns in rural Indonesia, and that, in their eyes, more work
remains to be done. For example, while these programs have an admirable focus improving
and strengthening land adjudication and land administration systems, the KPA believes that
relatively few smallholder farmers have been able to register their land rights.
In light of this, the two Indonesian FOs interviewed desire support in two major policy areas:
Security of land tenure: The two FOs noted significant disparities in access to land resources
in Indonesia. In many instances, the inequity is a result of the country’s complex ownership
and tenure models. While Indonesian law provides for private land ownership, most of the
non-forest land (~30% of total land area, per the World Resources Institute), is vested in the
state under the Basic Agrarian Law. Additionally, the profusion of different tenure systems are
viewed as perpetuating smallholder insecurity. Land rights are not fully recognized by the
state unless one purchases a stipulation of ownership or use, confirming that the land is not
state land. Unless such confirmation has been received, the land is presumed to be state land
until proven otherwise.
Trade Policy. There is a sense from the farmer organizations interviewed that the country’s
World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments and trade liberalization have adversely
affected its small-scale farmers. When combined with spending cuts across infrastructure,
training, and capacity building, these FOs mention that they find it difficult to function
effectively. Liberalisation has also meant adverse competition for local producers who now
must compete with subsidised agriculture from other areas of the world. Decentralized
extension services vested in underresourced local municipalities and greater competition
resulting from trade policy have required the farmer organizations profiled here to take on
new roles that they do not always have the resources for.
3.4.4. Conclusion and lessons learned
The KPA and SPI are Indonesian apex FOs succeeding in difficult conditions. They have moved
away from the traditional demand-led FO model to carve out a much-needed role as advocates
for the most fundamental aspect of food security: access to land. While both organizations
provide some technical assistance to their members, they acknowledge the dissonance of
providing input, financial, logistical, and marketing support to farmers who have no secure
land tenure. There is, however, a need to build greater TA capacity within the FOs as demand
grows, as the KPA’s Nurdin addressed above.
While both the KPA and SPI have much to be proud of, two key achievements should be noted:
First, these organizations have proven worthy advocates in key policy and legislative issues,