4/27/17

Successful use of
Forage Tree Legumes
In Indonesia

Achieving lasting success—from live-weight gains to livelihoods.

Michael Halliday
B. Agricultural Science – UQ
PhD Student – UQ
Research Technician - UQ

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Outline
1. Overview of cattle industry in Indonesia &
relevance to livelihood of rural poor
2. Its all about (poor) nutrition
3. Why Forage Tree Legumes work. Case studies
with sesbania and leucaena
4. What the project has achieved
• Identify Barriers and opportunities
• Experimental research
• Scale out and adoption

1. Overview of cattle industry in

Indonesia (Permani, 2011)
Feedlots Smallholder South Sulawesi
farmers
Jakarta
<40% of Lampung (main market) NTB >60% of
East Java
beef beef
supply West Java NTT supply
Source: Own illustration
Imports AU/NZ Beef ---- = Beef
AU Live Cattle = Live cattle
= Transit cattle through East Java

§ Indonesian beef consumption predicted to rise

§ Policy of self-sufficiency
§ About 60% of cattle in Indonesia raised by 6.5 million smallholders
§ Lot of money being spent to promote cattle industry.
§ Due to very high price of cattle (Rp 47,000 / kg LW in Lombok), improving
cattle sales by smallholders best way to improve rural livelihoods.

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Indonesia
($4200/2kg/hd)

Small holder cattle production

Breeding phase
ACIAR project
LPS/2008/054
Growing phase

Fattening phase
Our project is
first to support
this phase

Sale to traders

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Beef Cattle Distribution

Cattle Population 14.8 M Cattle Farmers = 6 M

BEEF CATTLE DISTRIBUTION

CATEGORIES POPULATION (%)

JAVA 7.5 M 50.7

SUMATRA 2.7 M 18.4

NUSA TENGGARA 2.1 M 14.2

SULAWESI 1.8 M 12.0

KALIMANTAN 0.5 M 2.7

EAST JAVA 4.7 M 31.7

Dominant breed:
1. Bali cattle (Bos javanicus) (32.4%)
2. Ongole (Bos indicus)

Prospects for expansion of

smallholder sector constrained by:

1. Poor nutrition limiting reproductive

capacity and growth rate of young animals

2. Poor sanitation, housing, health,

management

4. Problems with supply of credit,

3. Slaughter of breeding cows lack of land, poor extension &
training

5. Access to markets,
6. Government policy settings
transportation.

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2. Its all about (poor) nutrition

Poor nutrition causes:
§ Low calving rate
§ High calf death rate
§ low growth rate 0.15–0.25 kg
per day Poor nutrition is
like a hole in the
barrel
§ Loss of weight in dry season
§ Low carcass weight & quality,

Significance of forage quality

is under-appreciated

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3. Why forage tree legumes

(FTL) work
§ High quality, especially in protein,
possible worm control due to tannins,
and height above ground

§ Deep rooted, survive in dry season

§ Survive for many years

§ Easy to harvest

§ Multi-purpose products for households

e.g. timber, fuelwood and human food

§ Focus on two species:

§ Leucaena which introduced
§ Sesbania indigenous to Indonesia

FTLs are ideally suited to integrated

cropping systems

§ Integrating FTL with existing

enterprises
§ Best planted with existing
crops (maize, rice, peanuts)
§ Ensures better weed control
§ Ensures protection from
grazing
§ Labour input benefits both
crop and FTL planting
§ Farmers can continue
producing crops (many are
obliged to do so)

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Case study:
Sesbania grandiflora (sesbania)

Village of Nyerot in Central Lombok

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Survey of best practice – Sesbania

Worked with
farmers in
communal cattle
barns

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Results of survey
§ Average 0.41 kg/bull/d

up to 0.82 kg/bull/d.

Case Study:
Leucaena leucocephala (leucaena)

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Problem: Dry
season feed shortage
in uplands

Solution: Need deep rooted edible tree able to supply forage into the dry season

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Need reliable source of

good quality seed

Tarramba most popular variety

Sells for Rp 50,000 / kg

Contact Ibu Debbie Noelik

BPTP-NTT
HP: 0813 3946 7646

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How many trees to plant?

• How many trees are needed to fatten 1 bull (for 3–4 months)

• It Depends:
• Timor — Wet Season — Tarramba — 683 trees to fatten 1 bull
• Timor — Dry Season — Tarramba — 1706 trees to fatten 1 bull
• Sumbawa — Wet Season — Tarramba — 172 trees to fatten 1 bull
• Sumbawa — Wet Season — Existing — 59 trees to fatten 1 bull

Large areas of non-

arable land in
NTB/NTT are very
suitable for leucaena

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Leucaena easy to cut-

and-carry. Grows back
quickly

Indonesia - Timor

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Need to prepare
basic housing for
fattening with cut-
and-carry feeding

§ Bulls fatten quickly on

100% leucaena diets
§ Readily marketed.
§ Demand exceeds
supply
§ Traders will come to
the farmers

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Leucanea is
increasing
profitability

Leucaena in
Sumbawa

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LPS/2008/054 - Our Project team

Working with farmers

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The Many happy faces of farmers

And Government Officials

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We have many research activities

Worked in many
beautiful places

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4. What our project has achieved

Outcome 1 – Barriers and Opportunities

Principal Barriers and Opportunities

1. Nature of the innovation

2. Socio-economic and agribusiness issues

3. Government policy and involvement

4. Technical issues (leucaena & sesbania)

5. Engagement with farmers

6. Project leadership and staffing

4. What our project has achieved

Outcome 2 – scale out and adoption
§ Our project currently has
§ 9 active successful FRs
§ 7 active successful demonstration sites for training – more are
being developed as the project spreads to new areas

§ We are in the process of completing

§ 15 training videos

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4. What our project has achieved

Objective 2 – scale out and adoption

Training videos have been crucial

§ Extremely effective at getting the message across

§ Leaving a lasting legacy from the project

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4. What our project has achieved

Objective 2 – scale out and adoption
§ We have been working with
§ >1000 farmers in NTB & >900 in NTT,
§ who have planted >1,000,000 FTL trees to fatten bulls.

§ We will have trained

§ >60 Government extension staff,
§ >100 farmer leaders,

§ We will have distributed

§ >2000 kg of Tarramba leucaena seed

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4. What our project has achieved

Outcome 3 - Resolution of technical issues with FTL

Progress of experimental research on toxicity

§ Companion project - New psyllid resistant variety

of leucaena

§ Leucaena toxicity (initially thought to represent a

major barrier to adoption)
– Leucaena often perceived as “inedible” by many
farmers
– A working solution to toxicity (in AU & ID) will
allow greater adoption to be realised
§ Most research has been published (>15 Research &
Conference papers)

The issue of Leucaena toxicity

Ø The toxin mimosine
u All edible leucaena contains mimosine
u Mimosine is acutely toxic and causes hair loss
and temporary sickness
u Doesn’t last long (1–2 months)

Ø Secondary toxin: DHP

u Ruminants can degrade mimosine to 2 forms of
DHP
u DHP affect animal performance

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Indonesian toxicity research

Hand-Collected hundreds of
samples

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New understanding of toxicity

Ø Managing toxicity

u The bacteria is present in all ruminants

u Bulls can neutralise the DHP by conjugating
it in the liver
u When introduced gradually, bulls adapt to
leucaena

Conclusions for smallholder

fattening with FTL

§ Nutrition is principal limitation

§ Can double/triple smallholder cattle productivity in Indonesia by
improving nutrition with FTL
§ Large areas suitable for leucaena fattening in Nusa Tenggara
§ Our project well advanced with research into agronomy,
nutrition, adoption and use of FTL
§ The project is on track to work with >2000 farmers, who will
plant >3,000,000 FTL trees to fatten bulls

😀 FTL SOLVES THE PROBLEM OF POOR NUTRITION! 😀

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