02/08/2018: Feeling like a nomad

by Chris Jackson, Export Manager, UK TAG
 

Chris Jackson

My visits this time have taken me to Indonesia and to Australia visiting my family farms.

The contrast in farming could not be more dramatic, coming from what is largely a subsistence farming system, where the Government is keen to try and improve rural incomes.
 

The policies and interest were reinforced by the President, himself touring the agricultural and livestock event that I was in Jakarta to attend along with Perendale. A keen interest was shown in their technical magazines focusing on milling and aquaculture.

There is a real thirst for technical information that can help their business become more efficient and by default more profitable. There is a need to encourage the small farmers to move away from growing a small acreage of rice and get them to produce livestock and keep two cows instead of one by growing more grass and less rice.

Pig production after chicken production is the usual next logical step as its intensive nature allows for fast reproduction and expansion, however because of religious sensitivities this avenue for income is not widely available. Having said that the demand from neighbouring Singapore for pig meat is largely insatiable.

Also, in the southern state of Bali predominantly Hindu and Christian there is a viable industry and large-scale production on Batam Island for meat exports. The majority of the population therefore have to rely on cattle and goat production. Beef is very important and there are large beef-lots relying on imported cattle from Australia to finish.

Much more could be produced locally if the dairy farmers could be persuaded to change their breed and use animals that can produce both beef and milk. The added advantage of a shift in breed is that the females will have a much longer working life than the Holstein, freeing up resources from replacement production.

Infrastructure is key for industrial development but also crucial for rural communities enabling them to access the city markets, especially for the very perishable vegetable crops. Much can be achieved locally with processing for meat and milk that can be transported long distance in properly chilled, died or frozen.

Read the full article, HERE.

 

The Global Miller
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