Farmer Leaders of API and API’s National Secretariat Official during the Farmer Leaders Meeting (Photo by Amran, API)
Indonesia Peasant Alliance, API, held a National Farmer Leaders Meeting (RAPIMNAS) at Sofyan Hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia on 21-23 April 2017. The meeting aims to strengthen the leadership of the farmer organizations in order to develop agricultural cooperatives led by farmers.
Present in the meeting are 29 farmer leaders representing API’s members from 14 provinces. API’s National Secretariat Official also attended the meeting. Along with this activity, API also held a leadership training for farmer leaders.
This gathering aims to strengthen the leadership of the farmer leaders of API and to strengthen the agricultural cooperatives development led by the farmers. During the leadership training, the farmer leaders of API were able to increase their capacities on leadership of farmer, learning from experience, achievement and challenges faced by farmers in the field, to formulate key issues and strategic program of the farmer organization, and to formulate strategic action and evaluation for expected results to be achieved.
Meanwhile, during the farmer leaders meeting, the upcoming organizational program agenda for API and members until local level was discussed as well as several issues including (1) how to encourage in policy process the acceleration of land reform implementation for farmer, (2) how to increase organizational services to strengthen the member organizing, organizational structure and institution, (3) how to influence policy process and overseeing its implementation at national until local level, (4) how to increase member services to improve production, quality, sustainability and value chain and market access improvement, (5) how to start farmer led-agri-cooperatives and developing the existing farmer led-agriculture cooperative.
Left to right: Muhammad Nur Uddin, API’s secretary general and Mudzakir, API’s Chairperson, lead the farmer leaders meeting (Photo by Amran, API)
According to Mudzakir, API have been achieving several achievements to promote pro-poor government policy, to increase member services and to increase production and market access in several members. API have also increased member services in developing farmer-led agriculture cooperative initiation in several member location.
“We have achieved promoting policy program to land reform 9 million hectares, promoted laws of farmer protection and empowerment, Laws of Village, Laws of Food, Laws of protection of the sustainable land for food. In several location of members, we have increased production and market access. We have succeeded 13 farmer led-agri-coops. We have been also struggling together to get land access. Now almost all members have access to land for production, although not yet legalized. These achievements are all the result of our hard work together. Now we must disseminate the results of our work and oversee the existing implementation of government policy,” said Muzakir.
Muhammad Nur Uddin explains to the farmer leaders the agenda during the farmer leaders meeting. (Photo by Amran, API)
During the farmer leaders meeting, the following decisions were achieved for implementation by API and members from national to local level for the next years:
- to encourage in policy process the acceleration of land reform implementation for farmer, and identification and submit land as a land reform object,
- to increase organizational services to strengthen the member organizing, organizational structure and institution, and registration and legalization,
- to influence policy process and overseeing its implementation at national until local level for existing national policy,
- to increase member services to improve production, quality, sustainability and value chain and market access improvement, and,
- to develop farmer-led agri-cooperative at member base through capacity building, advisory, consultation to start farmer led-agri-cooperatives and developing to expansion business the existing farmer led-agriculture cooperative. (Photos and article by API)
Aliansi Petani Indonesia (API) is a member of the Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA).
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