In Indonesia, the Serikat Petani Indonesia (SPI – Indonesian Peasant Union) has been organizing for more than two decades around food sovereignty, agrarian reform, cooperatives, and agroecology. With around two million members across 24 provinces, it is one of the strongest peasant movements in the country. At the Global Grassroots Innovation Assembly (GIAA), SPI brings its concrete practices and political vision into dialogue with peasant organizations worldwide. As Qomar, head of SPI’s Center for Research and Implementation of Agroecology, put it during the GIAA gatherings: “Agroecology in SPI is a way of life. It is not just science, not just knowledge, not just technical skill. It is a movement—how we move to create people’s food systems.”
That philosophy is vividly illustrated in SPI’s video, Agroecology in Action: Solutions from Indonesian Peasants to Food and Climate Crises. Farmers from across the country testify to how they practice agroecology every day, and why they see it as the only real answer to the twin crises of food and climate.
A response to crises
The video begins by naming the context: hunger and malnutrition are still widespread in Indonesia and across the world, aggravated by climate change. Industrial, extractive agriculture is identified as a major driver of global warming and environmental destruction. SPI argues that only a system based on peasants’ own knowledge and organization can provide a way forward.
Agroecology, they explain, integrates three dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. It provides higher yields, reduces agriculture’s contribution to climate change, produces healthier and more nutritious food, and improves peasant incomes by lowering production costs.
Peasant innovations in practice
From the testimony of an SPI farmer in West Java, the details come alive. On his two hectares, he grows rice, maize, and chili. Seeds are saved, crossed, and improved to produce new varieties like SPI 20 and SPI 21 rice, and composite maize seeds that can be replanted season after season. This eliminates the need to buy seeds, ensuring self-reliance.
Fertilizers, too, are made by the farmers themselves. Solid compost and bokashi are prepared by fermenting manure from cows, goats, and chickens. Liquid fertilizers are also produced, drawing nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and natural hormones (auxin, cytokinin, gibberellin) from plants and natural materials collected nearby. These inputs are applied carefully through the vegetative and generative phases of crops.
For pest and disease management, the farmers monitor fields weekly. If outbreaks appear, they use biological agents such as Trichoderma from bamboo roots, Metarhizium, and Beauveria, or prepare natural fungicides and pesticides from plants in the surrounding environment. Nothing is purchased — everything is locally produced and adapted.
The results are striking: rice yields increase from 6 tons to 7.2 tons per hectare. Maize yields rise 20–30%. Production costs drop dramatically, from 30 million rupiah per hectare in conventional systems to 20 million with agroecology. Growing cycles are shorter — rice matures in 80–85 days instead of 100. And the ecosystem remains alive: soil bacteria, earthworms, frogs, and natural predators thrive, enriching soil fertility and keeping fields resilient.
Healthier food and stronger communities
Farmers are clear about another benefit: agroecological food is safer and more nutritious. Without chemical residues, rice and vegetables provide a fuller profile of nutrients. By contrast, conventional crops absorb mainly nitrogen, which not only weakens their nutritional value but can also be harmful to health.
Testimonies from Aceh describe how small farmers keep costs down by producing all their own inputs. With long beans, they have harvested 200 kilos over 10 harvests with only minimal cash investment. Local rice seeds have yielded more than four tons from less than a hectare. Compared to neighbors who rely on expensive chemical inputs, their costs are much lower and their results stronger.
A papaya farmer explains how his practices changed after attending an SPI training in Bogor in 2021. He began fermenting chicken manure, grasses, and sawdust into compost, making liquid fertilizers from fruits, and preparing pest controls from local leaves such as papaya and soursop. His cucumber harvests now reach 900 kilos per day from 3,000 m² — all without chemicals.
A young farmer from Yogyakarta tells a similar story. After training in 2022, he began cultivating rice, vegetables, and fruit on his family’s land. His rice yields rose from 80 kilos to 120 kilos per 1,000 m², with a shorter growing cycle of 75 days instead of 90. For him, agroecology is not just about productivity: “It is the only way to save the environment.”
Agroecology as science, practice, and movement
In the video’s closing reflections, SPI leaders emphasize that agroecology is science, practice, and movement. As science, it applies ecological principles to agriculture. As practice, it combines peasants’ and Indigenous knowledge with modern ecology. And as movement, it builds the political strength to push for supportive public policies and to make agroecology mainstream.
Through training, education, and farmer-to-farmer exchanges, SPI is building the capacity of its members and spreading agroecology across Indonesia. And through its participation in GIAA, it connects these local struggles with global networks of grassroots innovation.
As Qomar reminds us, agroecology is not a side option. It is the way peasants can build food systems that serve people, not corporations.Watch the full video here:
Agroecology in Action: Solutions from Indonesian Peasants to Food and Climate Crises (SPI, Indonesia)