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It has been called a 'Silent Revolution'. Farmers across Asia, particularly in Indonesia, are taking huge steps to increase their position in society. There are more than 1 billion farmers in the world, yet they are often marginalised and experience discrimination, both socially and economically. Most significantly, they are left out of decision-making processes that directly affect their livelihoods.
Farmers, the majority of the population, serve an important role in the national life as the backbone of food security. But they are not given the recognition they deserve and instead, face various problems:
 | Farmers are often not given the opportunity to utilise natural resources (land, water, fauna, flora) in an optimal manner. |
| Farmers in some countries must plant seeds as determined by the Government, and these seeds are accompanied by all kinds of 'packages' including irrigation and chemical fertilisers. |
| Farmers are constantly pressed to use chemical inputs in line with agricultural services. These are often not appropriate for local conditions and are dangerous to health and the environment. |
| Farmers are forced to sell their crops at prices that they have had no voice in determining. |
| The technology transfer paradigm remains, and programs similar in spirit to the Green Revolution continue to disempower farmers and force them to depend on government recommendations and agro-company promotions. |
| Common perceptions persist that farmers are backward, incompetent and weak. In this case, any form of 'guidance' becomes oppressive. |
The Indonesian IPM Farmers Association (IPPHTI) was founded as an outcome of the National Meeting of Farmers held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 1999. There were 461 IPM farmers in attendance from 12 rice-bowl provinces across Indonesia. The
Minister of Agriculture and the Sultan and Governor of Yogyakarta attended the meeting. Activities over the three days included: IPM farmers' trade fair; two group discussions with local and national mass-media journalists; more than two hours of dialogue with the Sultan and Governor, and a presentation to, and lively dialogue with, the Minister of Agriculture. The Minister of Agriculture signed a statement with the following remarks:
"I support the Farmers' Association; I will accommodate the Farmers' aspirations; I will follow-up the Farmers' request for some seats in Parliament, and please report to me if there is any village co-operative which is not supportive to farmers'
aspirations". The organising committee rejected the offer of financial support from pesticide companies, which wanted to hold their own exhibition and promote their products during the Congress. Further, the committee successfully negotiated with Government officials so that they would not use the event for promoting their own agricultural programs.
The IPPHTI was born out of the awareness that a dedicated network run by farmers was needed in order to empower IPM farmers. Such an association enables farmers to tackle pressing problems in which farmers are treated as objects by different parties, especially by the government. The IPPHTI works to overcome conditions of injustice via several strategies and programmes. The primary strategy is to strengthen farmer organisations at the group level.
| As local groups gain strength, members of the group will be able to identify, understand, and solve local problems on their own. |
| Strong local farmer groups establish a foundation for networking to create a broader farmer association. |
Activities to strengthen farmer group organisations include:
| Trainer workshops where group facilitation skills are increased and an understanding of the vision of farmer movements is established; |
| Farmer research activities where scientific studies are strengthened to assist in understanding agro ecological concepts; |
| Advocacy training to increase the awareness of participants of the importance of forming groups, increasing the communications at the group level, learning how to build alliances with other groups, and building skills to design advocacy strategies and movements. |
Political education is also needed so that farmers understand their rights and their responsibilities as citizens, and thereby become active members in all processes affecting their livelihoods. Agricultural education increases the capacity of the farmers to utilise their agro ecosystems through the application of IPM principles. These can be learnt through the Farmer Field School and Training of Trainer opportunities. Educated farmers who have advocacy skills are able to increase the influence of farmers over public policies that directly influence agriculture. In addition to conducting dialogues with district legislatures, IPM alumni have conducted provincial and district level IPM farmer congresses.
Many of the association's efforts have yielded results:
| Farmers have established a regular direct line of communications with their local legislators |
| Several appeals of farmers have been listened to, accepted, and acted on by district legislators: in one district, water use fees, which were being paid to local governments by farmers, are now collected and managed by the farmers' water user association; in Nusa Tengarra, farmers were able to obtain funds and equipment from the local government |
| Inappropriate agricultural development policies have been successfully rejected |
| Village level development funds have been increased and directed to agriculture |
| Many agricultural university students want to join with the farmers and support their activities. |
Farmers were invited to attend a meeting to discuss the government's Food Security Program. Farmers made suggestions about how to conduct the program; about how farmers should run the program themselves, and that they didn't support packages or loans to farmers as they often resulted in too many pressures being placed on them. By having a close relationship with the government, farmers hope that future government programs will be more suitable to the local conditions, give farmers legal protection and address farmers' needs.
National meetings are being held with the Human Rights Commission in which IPM farmers collaborate with other farmer associations and organizations that support agrarian reform, to fight for farmers' rights. Farmers demand the right to:
| manage land |
| access government services |
| determining prices |
| access accurate information |
| produce their own seeds |
| manage irrigation systems |
| market their own products |
| form associations |
| freedom of expression |
One of the most prominent achievements of the IPPHTI has bee the publication of a farmer newspaper, PETANI
(Bahasa Indonesia for 'farmer'): for farmers, by farmers. Over 10,000 copies are distributed monthly to 11 provinces across Indonesia. Farmers enjoy reading the newspaper for several reasons:
| Excellent way for farmer-to-farmer sharing of technical innovations and the results of experiments, particularly about mix cropping systems and ecologically sound pest management techniques |
| Serves as a medium to inform farmers about what crops are being grown elsewhere, giving farmers the opportunity to analyse the market before planting their own crops |
| Available to policy makers, local governments and organisations wanting to support IPPHTI |
Sections of the paper include: Main reports, Farmers' science, Farmers' advocacy, Farmers' profile, Community profile, Farmers' opinion, Letters to the editor.
An example of a letter in a recent edition of 'Petani'"Congratulations and success to the newspaper. I hope that PETANI will: 1. Remain an independent Farmers' newspaper… 2. Report on Farmers' advocacy activities to stimulate readers to struggle for their rights… 3. Provide special topics each issue, for instance, about loans, which many farmers do not understand about… 4. Publish both success and failure stories of farmer experiments, so that farmers can learn… I hope the farmers' voice will be heard by many…good luck with your paper. Darto/Panggah, Member of Environment Care Group, Central Java Province |
For further information, contact: ipphtibaru@yahoo.co