IMPROVING MAIZE SEED ACCESS AND CULTIVATION PRACTICES OF SUBSISTENCE FARMERS IN NUSA TENGGARA TIMUR, INDONESIA

Access to quality seeds and technical know-how markedly increased maize productivity of subsistence farming communities, contributing to increased food security for at least 18,000 households in 2012. The paper aims to describe how to improve maize cultivation practices for subsistence and poor farmers by introducing quality seed and improving capacity of extension staff in Timor Tengah Utara (TTU) District of Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia. A cooperative approach between national and sub-national Indonesian Government agencies, and the Australian Government’s aid agency (AusAID) was the main key to achieve these. Firstly, the Indonesian Government’s National Seed Reserve Program (CBN) distributed 198 tons of Open-Pollinated-Variety (OPV) seed to 427 farmer groups in 106 villages across TTU district. Secondly, recognizing the limitations of district agricultural services to disseminate knowledge and understanding of better farming practices, the AusAID supported the District Government and NGOs to undertake an intervention in 2011/2012 to improve the effectiveness of the CBN Program, thereby increasing food security for small-holders farm communities. The results of the intervention showed that the use of the OPV seed improved maize productivity by 36% (from 2.6 t/ha to 3.5 t/ha) or increased by between 52-86% when cultivation was managed through Demonstrations Plots compared to local varieties used by farmers. Capacity building of field facilitators (Public Extension and NGO’s staff) to help disseminate knowledge and an understanding of the improved technologies was provided through Training of Trainers and a number of other knowledge-sharing exercises.