Indonesia

Project overview

Indonesia’s food systems play a critical role in national development, food security and livelihoods, while also being closely linked to globally significant ecosystems and biodiversity. As one of the world’s largest archipelagic countries and a megadiverse nation, Indonesia faces increasing pressure to balance agricultural growth with environmental sustainability.

The livestock sector is central to this challenge. It supports rural livelihoods and nutrition, yet remains characterized by low productivity, high dependence on imports, and environmental pressures, including land degradation, greenhouse gas emissions, and ecosystem encroachment. Smallholder farmers dominate production, particularly in beef systems, where limited access to knowledge, technologies and quality inputs constrains productivity and sustainability.

At the same time, Indonesia faces rising demand for animal-source foods driven by population growth, urbanization and improving incomes. This creates both an opportunity and a risk: expanding livestock production without sustainable practices could further intensify environmental degradation and climate impacts.

In response, the Government of Indonesia is prioritizing food system transformation, including strengthening livestock production to improve food security and reduce import dependency, while ensuring environmental sustainability. This project supports that transition by promoting integrated, low-emission and resource-efficient livestock systems that contribute to resilient, inclusive and sustainable food systems.

Our approach

The project promotes a transition from conventional, fragmented livestock development towards integrated, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable food systems. It adopts a whole-of-food-systems approach, linking production, value chains, landscapes and governance.

Activities focus on strengthening multi-sectoral governance and policy coherence to align livestock development with environmental and food systems objectives. The project improves coordination across sectors and levels of government and enhances access to finance through investment pathways and tailored financial mechanisms.

At the production and landscape level, it promotes integrated livestock systems that increase productivity while reducing environmental impacts, including improved feed and herd management, sustainable grazing, circular resource use, and crop–livestock integration.

The project also supports sustainable and inclusive value chains, strengthening private-sector engagement, improving market access, and promoting innovation, capacity building, and knowledge exchange to scale up sustainable practices.

Knowledge generation and sharing are central to the project, ensuring that lessons, tools and models are documented and disseminated at national, regional and global levels to support broader food systems transformation. The project also emphasizes inclusion, supporting smallholder farmers, women and vulnerable groups to access resources, knowledge and opportunities, and to benefit from more resilient livelihoods and improved food security.

Sites

Target landscapes and provinces to be confirmed during implementation (selected based on livestock systems and environmental priorities).