Jakarta, December 10th, 2020 – Supporting the Indonesian farmers and agricultural development, Bayer Indonesia, a global company with competencies in health and agriculture, officially inaugurated the ‘Better Life Farming’ (BLF) program with the Ministry of Agriculture, held during the ‘Mentan Sapa Petani dan Penyuluh Pertanian’ event (10/12). BLF is designed as part of Bayer's sustainability program involving partners to reach out 4 million smallholder farmers, of which 20 percent are women farmers, until 2030 to achieve advanced, independent and modern agriculture.

The Better Life Farming program is in line with the Government's strategy to develop the Farmers Corporation and to reach out 2.5 million young farmers. Farmer groups will be given on-farm training and training on entrepreneurship as well as being facilitated for access to financing and agricultural insurance, plus access to market. The BLF Program underscores long-term commitment by Bayer, where on a global scale is held in partnership with IFC, Netafim and Swiss-Re.

Referring to Ministry of Agriculture's Strategic Plan 2020-2024, farmer corporations - established by integrating farming industry to boost the economics scale of farmers’ business – is deemed to be a solution to current problems that the farmers often encounter. Many farmers experience difficulties in selling their crops, causing some decline in their income. This situation is worsening during the recent pandemic times.

“We work with the vulnerable smallholder farmers exposed during the pandemic and listen to their concerns. This situation is a threat to the potential of national food production. We initiate the Better Life Farming on a global scale, and it is launched today in Indonesia in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture. Through the Better Life Farming Center (BLFC), we and our partners work to open up the access to technology, education and mentoring as well as access to market and financing to support the smallholder farmers that would allow them to manage agriculture business in a professional and commercially viable manner," explained Patrick Gerlich, Country Commercial Lead Crop Science Bayer Indonesia & Malaysia.

The Better Life Farming Centers (BLFC) Creates Significant Impact

BLFC is targeted to grow by the 4,000 BLFC stalls during 2020-2030. Where every year BLFC is expected to reach out to four villages or as many as 1,000 farmers per village. In 2020, the Better Life Farming program area has covered the area of Banten, Central Java, East Java, and West Nusa Tenggara.

BLFC continues to be developed to gain greater awareness in the communities. On December 8, 2020, the BLFC in Tulungagung, East Java, was inaugurated, followed by the inauguration of the BLFC in Serang, Banten, on December 11, 2020.

Being the primary producer of rice and corn, Tulungagung and Banten have each eight BLFC centers in operation. The entire BLFC centers are fostered and further developed by Bayer and its partners, providing intensive training and mentoring, targeting the owners and managers of the kiosks. The approach enables BLFC to become an integrated center or one-stop-shop for local farmers, especially in access to markets and to working capital loans.

The Better Life Farming program in Tulungagung area has successfully reached out to more than 1,500 farmers and has been able to increase the food crops productivity by more than 25% and increase in farmers' income by more than 75%. Meanwhile, the BLFC in Banten had successfully reached out to more than 3,200 farmers with an increase in food crops productivity of more than 25% and farmer income of more than 50%.

Improving the Farmers Family’s Quality of Life

Better Life Farming Center is managed using a holistic approach towards improving the farmers' welfare. Result is not only measured by the improved financial well-being, but also seen by the improved gender equality and health quality of the farmers family. Better Life Farming provides special training for female farmers and provides education related to reproductive health and access to modern contraceptives for women farmers and farmers' wives.

"We wish to make positive impact to Indonesian farmers, not only in terms of farm business, but also improving the quality of life in terms of family health. The Better Life Farming program will run until 2030 with a target of 20% of the beneficiary farmers being female farmers, "said Patrick Gerlich, Country Commercial Lead Crop Science for Bayer Indonesia & Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Mercy Corps Indonesia, represented by its Executive Director Ade Soekadis, also expressed its support for the Better Life Farming program. As a strategic partner in implementing this program, Mercy Corps Indonesia stated that with an extensive network and a team of experts from Mercy Corps, this collaborative action can successfully achieve targets and remains optimistic to contribute to the success of Indonesia's national agenda in developing the country's agricultural sector.

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About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development, and the Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2019, the Group employed around 104,000 people and had sales of 43.5 billion euros. Capital expenditures amounted to 2.9 billion euros, R&D expenses to 5.3 billion euros.

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Laksmi Prasvita
Head of Communications, Public Affairs, Science and Sustainability
PT Bayer Indonesia
Tel. +62 21 3049 1111
Email: contact.indonesia@bayer.com