DFG “Organic Farming” project: keys to success for organic farming in Indonesia

What motivates Indonesian farmers to convert to organic farming long-term? Nathalie Luck, an economist at the Chair of Development Economics at the University of Passau, is exploring this question in a DFG-funded field study.

Indonesia is a kind of living laboratory for agriculture in developing and newly industrialised countries. This was recognised by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Passau led by the development economist Professor Michael Grimm and the agricultural sociologist Professor Martina Padmanabhan. Since 2017, this team has been working with researchers from Indonesia in the IndORGANIC project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, to investigate whether and how organic farming can be widely promoted in one of the largest predominantly agricultural national economies.

One finding is that training measures with local partners have an impact: the junior economist Nathalie Luck has demonstrated, with the help of a field experiment, that 15 % more farms used organic fertilisers in the villages were training was offered than in the other villages. But do these farms retain the organic growing methods and do they convert completely to organic farming in the longer term? If so, how do the productivity and the income situation develop? Luck will explore these questions under the supervision of development economist Professor Grimm – in the “Organic Farming” project. The project builds upon the field study with 1200 smallholders on the Indonesian island of Java that was part of Luck’s doctorate.

The researcher has a very good local network and speaks Indonesian. “I was able to talk to a lot of smallholders, and thus gained detailed insights into their concerns and living conditions,” says Luck. Professor Grimm, who holds the Chair of Development Economics at the University of Passau, emphasises: “This knowledge and a familiarity with the language and culture are a prerequisite for the success of research work in the predominantly rural region.”

The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding the “Organic Farming” field study for a period of two years.

Principal Investigator(s) at the University	Prof. Dr. Michael Grimm (Lehrstuhl für Development Economics)
Website	https://www.wiwi.uni-passau.de/en/development-economics/research/training-technology-for-sustainable-farming/
Source of funding	DFG - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft > DFG - Sachbeihilfe