The challenge
Reducing poverty by delivering inclusive innovation
Innovation can help to reduce poverty, increase food security, grow income and the economy.
Applied research and innovation systems in agriculture (ARISA) was an $8 million program under the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Rural Development (AIP-Rural).
AIP-Rural aimed to improve the access of smallholder farmers in Indonesia to new markets, better inputs, know-how and technology.
ARISA explored new ways of disseminating research solutions for smallholder agriculture, explored incentives and drivers for connecting research and industry to adapt and deliver farming innovations, and established working examples of successful public-private collaboration.
Our response
Unlocking the potential of agricultural research to benefit smallholder producers
ARISA aimed to improve the competitiveness of smallholder households by making promising research and technology available and accessible to farming communities.
The program identified constraints to farm production and food value chains, then sought existing applied technologies with potential to address these constraints in an inclusive and sustainable way.
Partnerships were established to bring together researchers and the private sector, to co-create inclusive, sustainable pathways to bring research into use. A number of on-ground pilots were established, in cassava, maize and pulses, beef, dairy, shallots, sugar, and pigs.
In addition to on-ground interventions, ARISA’s research activities added value to AIP-Rural by exploring how the partnerships evolved over time, while innovation systems research sought to recognise, understand and support mechanisms for systemic change.
The results
An innovative approach leads to improved livelihoods and incentives
OUTREACH (households)
NET INCOME IMPACT (AUD)
INTERVENTION PARTNERS
PARTNER INVESTMENT (AUD)
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
ARISA aimed to improve the livelihoods of farmers in eastern Indonesia by increasing the incomes of 10,000 smallholder households by 30 per cent between January 2014 and December 2018.
By the end of 2018, ARISA had increased the net incomes of 11,144 households by an average of 117 per cent. Forty-eight per cent of these households were living on less than $2.50 per day.
Total income attributable to the program across all interventions was $21.9 million and average net attributable income increase per household was $1,965.
For every Australian dollar spent on the interventions, ARISA generated $7.40 in increased income for farm households.
ARISA influenced Indonesia’s Regulation on Innovation Management in Higher Education, creating an enabling environment for innovation in universities and incentives to engage with the private sector.
ARISA was integral to strengthening capacity in researchers and research institute leaders and led to the establishment of formal intermediary units in two partner universities to support researchers and faculties collaborate with business and community to take research into use.