When Qomar from SPI spoke during the GIAA gathering in 2023, he reminded us that for Indonesian peasant farmers, agroecology is not a technical fix. “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.”
SPI – the Indonesian Farmers Union – is a mass organization with nearly two million members and sympathizers across 24 provinces and 100 districts. Since 1998, it has been at the forefront of struggles for land and agrarian reform, peasants’ rights, cooperatives, and food sovereignty. “For SPI, we need to build national and local food systems that are established by the people themselves. A food system that is pro-people must be created by the people.”
For Qomar, who heads SPI’s Center for Research and Implementation of Agroecology, this is not abstract. “I am a peasant. I plant, I raise cattle, I fish. And together with others we run a small training center in my hometown. It is collective work.” His role is to gather members’ knowledge and share it widely—through training, field visits, and farmer-to-farmer exchanges.
SPI’s conception of agroecology is holistic: farming that generates economic profit, strengthens social life, and sustains the environment. It is rooted in family farming traditions that protect nature, while breaking dependence on corporate inputs and market forces. “We believe there is no other option, only agroecology. After recognizing the root problems, we came to agroecology as the solution, and we live it in our daily lives.”
This vision takes shape in SPI’s organic agriculture education and training centers (Pusdiklat), spread across Bogor, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, South Sumatra, West Nusa Tenggara, and Central Java. These centers are living laboratories where farmers experiment, exchange experiences, and learn from one another. Many SPI members complete internships and return home ready to implement agroecology in their territories.
Agroecology, Qomar stresses, is also political: “When I say it is a movement, it is also political. Laws shaped at the international level and ratified nationally often take our rights away. We must strengthen our organization to face this.” That strengthening, for SPI, is about much more than money: “Building capacity means more than financial capital. It is about human capital, social capital, knowledge, networks, and natural resources. With stronger organization, we can influence the government and advocate for public policies that support people.”
One success story stands out. “This year we succeeded in organizing 2,000 members in one district to plant rice together on 1,000 hectares using agroecology. After three years of transition away from chemicals, even the president came to plant, and the minister came to harvest. We proved that we can create change with our own resources, without waiting for outside support.”
SPI’s participation in the Global Grassroots Innovation Assembly for Agroecology (GIAA) brings these experiences into dialogue with farmers’ movements worldwide. And this connection is not new: since Schola Campesina was founded in 2017, SPI has been sending participants to its international trainings in Italy and beyond. That shared journey continues today, linking the struggles of Indonesian peasants to the global fight for food sovereignty and technological autonomy.