For this program, NCBA CLUSA has assembled a consortium of leading organizations in the spice sector: U.S. companies such as McCormick & Company, leading Indonesia agribusinesses, as well as local cooperatives and farmers. Implementing partners Rainforest Alliance and PT Collins Higgins Consulting will provide technical assistance.
This public-private partnership enhances compliance with international food safety regulations and quality standards to expand global trade in spices, and to meet growing demand worldwide, while improving spice farmers’ climate resilience. The project mobilizes cost share contributions from McCormick & Company to reach spice farmers in the Jambi, North Sumatra, Papua, Sulawesi and Lampung regions of Indonesia. The project will target 14,000 farmers, six co-ops and associations, and several spice processors.
ISTA will help six farmer cooperatives/associations improve their input production and distribution, procurement, record keeping and management functions. Working closely with each of these cooperatives/associations and local private firms, the project will increase access to improved inputs (improved seeds, seedlings, host and shade trees); deliver technical training and extension to farmers; and monitor, supervise and assist them with obtaining sustainable Rainforest Alliance certification and good agricultural practices (GAP) for their farmers. As demonstrated under our USAID-funded Indonesia Sustainable Cooperative Agribusiness Alliance (SCAA), as farmer interest in quality production and management grows, so does their interest in increasing canopy, bush, vine and forest growth. Productive spice farming will improve rural community livelihoods, reducing the economic incentive to engage in illegal logging. As a result, the alliance will reduce land-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and conserve biodiversity in partnership with the private sector, local communities and the government.
NCBA CLUSA’s History in Indonesia
Since 1977, NCBA CLUSA has maintained a consistent presence in Indonesia, providing income-generating activities and new employment opportunities for people at the grassroots level, including setting up several businesses:
- PT Sumatera Tropical Spices: the world’s largest cinnamon buyer, processor and exporter.
- PT AgriSpice Indonesia: among the world’s largest vanilla, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, mace and black pepper processors and exporters. AgriSpice Indonesia is a strategic partner of McCormick in Southeast Asia.
- UUO Toraja Coffee, PT Sumatra Specialty Coffees, Koperasi Baitul Qiradh Baburrayyan: specialty coffee cooperatives.
- KJUB PUSPETA Luwu: The largest spice and Arabica coffee exporter in Sulawesi.