Jakarta, 24 September 2020 – Celebrating the National Farmers Day, Bayer Indonesia, a global company with the competence in health and agriculture sectors, launches an empowerment program as a commitment to improve the welfare of Indonesian farmers to cope with COVID-19 impact. Collaborating with Mercy Corps Indonesia as a strategic partner, the program targets empowerment of 500,000 farmers in 44 districts and 15 provinces in Indonesia. The launch of this initiative is established with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the President Director of Bayer Indonesia, Angel Michael Evangelista, Director of Bayer Indonesia, Mohan Babu and the Executive Director of Mercy Corps Indonesia, Ade Soekadis, witnessed directly by the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia, Syahrul Yasin Limpo.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to cause food crisis, both globally and nationally. This means that safeguarding food security is as equally important as improving public health. Farmers have a big role to play in helping ensure the availability of domestic foodstuff. We highly appreciate Bayer’s initiative with the ‘Better Life Farming’ program, which not only supplies farmers with the needed agricultural products, but also provides provision of skills and health that are expected to increase Indonesia’s agricultural productivity,” said Syahrul Yasin Limpo, Indonesian Minister of Agriculture.

The agricultural sector plays a significant role in being the highest contributor to the national economic growth in the second quarter of 2020. Based on data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS)^[1], agricultural GDP grew 16.24% in the second quarter of 2020 (q-to-q). In fact, when compared to the same period last year, this sector still contributed positively, 2.19% (y-on-y). This growth is driven by the high demand for agricultural sector products. This situation is an opportunity as well as a challenge for actors in this sector, particularly farmers, to be able to continue to meet national food needs, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is far from over.

Nevertheless, since the corona virus broke out, Bayer found that farmers have been having difficulty selling their crops, causing a decline in their income—resulting in insufficient working capital to buy agricultural facilities for the next planting season. Farmers are also constrained in getting their agricultural input (such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) at the right time due to disruption of the supply chain during the pandemic.

Director of Bayer Indonesia, Mohan Babu, said, “Bayer acknowledges farmers’ vital role as the vanguard of national food supply providers. Therefore, we pay great attention to improving the quality and well-being of their lives. We will realize this effort through “Better Life Farming” which Bayer will implement throughout 2020–2021. We will distribute assistance with a total value of IDR 197 billion in the form of complete crop protection packages, training to increase agricultural skills, as well as education and the provision of modern contraceptives for female farmers. We hope that the “Better Life Farming” program will also support the improvement of farmers’ quality of life, so that they can continue to make a positive contribution to the Indonesian agricultural industry.”

President Director of Bayer Indonesia, Angel Michael Evangelista, said, “Globally, Bayer targets this program to reach 100 million farmers in developing countries by 2030, by providing access to the best innovations, relevant knowledge, and partnerships. Bayer also pays great attention to women’s health and is motivated to help 100 million women worldwide gain access to contraceptives to support the quality of their health and economy.”

In Indonesia, for the early stage (2020–2021 period), Bayer is targeting 500,000 farmers—including 100,000 women farmers—who are vulnerable to be affected by the COVID-19 in 44 districts and 15 provinces, so that they can continue to be empowered and to work. The provinces covered by the program include DI Aceh, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Lampung, Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, West Sumatra, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, and Central Sulawesi. For the long term, Bayer’s commitment with the “Better Life Farming” program in Indonesia will continue until 2030, with target recipients reaching 4 million small farmers and 3,000 farmer entrepreneurs.

As the implementer of the ‘Better Life Farming’ program, Executive Director of Mercy Corps Indonesia, Ade Soekadis said, “With the comprehensive and ongoing support from Bayer, combined with Mercy Corps Indonesia’s extensive network, we are optimistic that ‘Better Life Farming’ initiative will have a significant impact on improving the capability and quality of Indonesian farmers. Furthermore, we hope that this collaborative action can help the government in safeguarding Indonesia’s food security.”

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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.

For more information, go to www.bayer.co.id or www.bayer.com.

Laksmi Prasvita

Head of Communications, Public Affairs, Science and Sustainability

PT Bayer Indonesia

Tel. +62 21 3049 1111

Email: contact.indonesia@bayer.com

Tentang Mercy Corps Indonesia

Mercy Corps Indonesia adalah organisasi nirlaba lokal yang berpusat di Jakarta. Mercy Corps Indonesia membantu masyarakat untuk pulih dari kondisi krisis yang mereka hadapi dan kemudian mengubahnya menjadi kesempatan untuk meningkatkan kualitas hidup. Didasari kebutuhan lokal, program kami membantu masyarakat di seluruh wilayah Indonesia dengan alat dan dukungan yang masyarakat butuhkan.

Kunjungi www.mercycorps.or.id untuk informasi lebih lanjut mengenai Mercy Corps Indonesia.

Untuk pertanyaan lebih lanjut, silakan hubungi:

Kontak Mercy Corps Indonesia 

Andi Dian Roosahandita

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer

aroosahandita@id.mercycorps.org

_{[1] https://www.bps.go.id/pressrelease/2020/08/05/1737/-ekonomi-indonesia-triwulan-ii-2020-turun-5-32-persen.html}