There's a quiet revolution underway in Indonesia's livestock industry, and it's being driven by that country's long held ambition of becoming self-sufficient in food and the increasingly urgent need for developed countries to decarbonise their economies.
Still recovering from devastating outbreaks of both foot and mouth and lumpy skin disease, Indonesian farmers have seized on Australian developed nutritional technology that significantly improves the productivity of both beef and dairy cattle.
While Indonesian farmers using the molasses based medicated blocks are benefiting from income positive increases in both meat and milk production, it's the reduction in methane and other side benefits that are making the innovative program possible.
Developed by Australian company AgCoTech in close cooperation with Emeritus Professor Peter Windsor from the University of Sydney and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the blocks are being distributed at no cost to farmers in need in developing countries.
Joko Purnomo and his wife Diah Sustanti, milk 33 cows near Klaten in central Java and have been enthusiastic supporters of the program from the start.
Hit hard by a 75 per cent reduction in milk production when FMD struck 12 months ago, the now also vaccinated cows are back to producing between 12 and 15 litres a day.
"Producing more milk and also increasing the amount of milk fats and protein is essential," said Joko, who also manages a local feed company.
"We have to be able to produce more so we can feed more people.
"Improving our nutrition is a big part of that."
AgCoTech is working closely with the joint government funded Australian/Indonesian agricultural development organisation PRISMA and distributes the blocks at no cost to farmers in need.
The innovate system is funded by the sale of verified carbon and sustainable develop goal offsets, which are bought by companies in western countries needing to achieve environmental and social goals, including climate impacts.
It's a big ask in a country with an estimated 280 million people on a landmass spread over 17,000 islands that in total is only a quarter the size of Australia.
AgCoTech's Sam Stevens, who recently travelled to Central Java to set up more feed trials, said there were plenty of challenges in operating in a developing country.
"To say conditions are pretty basic would be a big understatement," Mr Stevens said.
"There's just nothing like it in Australia and until you see what is happening here, it is a bit difficult to fully understand and experience it first hand.
"What is very clear is that Indonesian farmers are very committed to improving how they manage their livestock, particularly when it comes to nutrition.
"In this environment there are massive potential gains in both meat and milk production and reductions in methane possible with the adoption of this molasses block technology."
Likewise Sriyono Boyaolali also seized the opportunity to improve the level of nutrition being provided to his 30 dairy cattle.
Milk production from their cows slipped by 70pc when FMD struck and is back to an average of about 12-13 litres/day.
"We're feeding chopped green feed, tofu waste and concentrates," Sriyono said.
"The blocks give us the extra nutrition we need to keep improving our production.
Indonesia's domestic beef industry is also benefiting from the AgCoTech technology.
At the Tani Subur facility 96 bulls and 79 cows owned and tended by the local farmers are on feed.
While the cows are used exclusively for breeding, the bulls are specifically fattened for the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival, which falls mid-year, this year on June 29-30.
The important religious festival involves slaughtering an animal and sharing the meat between family, relatives and friends, and the poor and needy.
Facility manager Pak Jaka said the more meat able to be produced, the better it was for the community.
"The bulls are bought, processed at an approved facility and the meat is distributed during Eid al-Adha with much of it going to the poor," Jaka said.
"It's in all our interest to grow the best animals we can."
AgCoTech has already constructed a factory in Laos and is the process of developing a manufacturing plant in Indonesia.
- Mark Phelps travelled to Indonesia as guest of AgCoTech.
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