Empowered Farmers Anchor Food Security as Bayer and Kemenko PM Strengthen Collaboration
Increased production and strengthening smallholder farmers’ economies are two pillars supporting national food security. Building on this understanding, Bayer Indonesia hosted a delegation from the Coordinating Ministry for People’s Empowerment (Kemenko PM) to explore strategic collaboration between the Better Life Farming (BLF) programme and Perintis Berdaya to support farmers’ economic empowerment. This initiative began with a multi-stakeholder visit and dialogue at the Better Life Farming Center (BLFC) in Mojokerto, East Java.
This national-level partnership exploration aims to combine BLF’s innovative agricultural technology expertise, formal financing access, and market access with Kemenko PM’s macro-coordination and social entrepreneurship incubation functions under Perintis Berdaya. The initiative will optimise BLFC infrastructure—acting as smart agricultural kiosks at village level—alongside Perintis Berdaya’s network to create profitable agricultural economic governance.
Since its launch in Indonesia in 2020, BLF has established 590 BLFCs across 13 provinces, 20% managed by women. The programme has delivered significant positive impacts: BLFC agricultural kiosks’ revenue increased by approximately 34%, while farmers’ productivity rose by 15-25%.
Bayer, alongside partners, has built a closed-loop agricultural system connecting farming technology, agronomic and entrepreneurial mentoring, financing and crop insurance access, to market certainty, ensuring farmers are not disconnected at any point in the value chain.
As Bayer’s long-term sustainability initiative, BLF is positioned to strengthen food security systematically by ensuring productivity gains align with income stability and farm business sustainability. This approach empowers smallholder farmers not just as producers but as resilient entrepreneurs with bargaining power within the agricultural value chain.
This aligns with Perintis Berdaya, Kemenko PM’s flagship programme focused on orchestrating cross-sector collaboration to drive community economic empowerment. In agriculture, Perintis Berdaya creates synergy between government, private sector, financial institutions, and supply chain actors to strengthen business access, financing, and markets for smallholders.
Following the multi-stakeholder visit and dialogue at BLFC in Mojokerto, East Java, Leontinus Alpha Edison, Deputy for Economic Empowerment and Migrant Worker Protection at Kemenko PM, emphasised that strengthening farmers on the ground requires collaborative measures and a comprehensive ecosystem. ‘From today’s visit, I saw firsthand in Mojokerto how smallholders can become empowered with a complete ecosystem—from mentoring and financing to assured markets. This is often the missing link on the ground. Perintis Berdaya was never meant to create new programmes from scratch, but to stitch together initiatives like Better Life Farming for wider expansion and replication. The approach is empowerment, not aid, aiming for self-reliant farmers with bargaining power and no dependency,’ he said.
He added that cross-sector collaboration is key. ‘Kemenko PM cannot operate alone. We are open to engaging the private sector, financial institutions, and supply chain players to sit together. Models like BLF are already in place; our role is to ensure the ecosystem grows beyond silos. We hope to explore truly empowering collaborations in the future,’ he added.
Aditia Rusmawan, Bayer Crop Science’s Agriculture Affairs and LTO Lead in Indonesia, explained that this partnership potential is a significant step towards inclusive impact at scale. ‘We are open to cross-sector and government collaboration. The national BLF and Perintis Berdaya partnership initiative aims to accelerate rural agricultural transformation across Indonesia. The Mojokerto BLFC review shows how closed-loop models, advanced cultivation technology, and superior seeds boost farmer productivity. With government macro policy support, we are optimistic this village-based ecosystem strengthening model can be massively replicated across provinces to achieve smallholder welfare.’
The multi-stakeholder dialogue involved BLFC managers, smallholders, off-taker partners, financing partners, crop insurers, government investment centres, and youth and female farmer representatives. Discussions focused on strengthening sustainable agricultural financing, creating fairer market access, and opportunities for replicating Better Life Farming models tailored to regional needs.
According to the latest data from Mojokerto Regency’s Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and East Java sectoral reports, Mojokerto holds a strategic position in the regional agricultural landscape. Despite being in East Java’s main industrial corridor, agriculture remains a significant pillar of the real economy. Thus, efforts to boost productivity and farmers’ income—especially smallholders—are needed to deliver broader economic benefits.
‘Our biggest challenges have been uncertainties—from initial planting capital and proper cultivation methods to selling harvests at good prices. Through the BLF ecosystem, we receive end-to-end mentoring, including financing and market access. The impact is clear: my BLFC kiosk’s turnover has quadrupled,’ said Imam Baihaq