As part of the program, Cargill has donated a teaching farm stocked with 500 local Ayam Kampung Super (AKAS) day-old chickens. Students from Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan (SMK) Agri Insani, a vocational school in Indonesia, will be the first to benefit from a 90-day program on how to develop and manage poultry farms.

The farm is fully equipped with tools including eating and drinking containers, temperature-controlled chicken cages and Cargill-supplied chicken feed. During the program, Cargill experts closely mentor students as they learn how to raise the local chickens from hatchlings till they are harvest-ready. Students are also tutored in farm business management, where they learn skills such as profit and loss calculation, feed efficiency and capital management.

Akkarit Boontawee, managing director of Cargill Feed and Nutrition Indonesia said, "Our intent is to support Indonesia’s smallholder farmers by helping to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of farming practices. Every year, we at Cargill Feed and Nutrition Indonesia commit one per cent of our annual earnings towards smallholder farmer training and rural development programs to give back to the communities where we live, work and do business. We hope that by training the young students of Agri Insani in the techniques of modern breeding, they will leave the program well-equipped to support and contribute towards the growth of Indonesia’s chicken farming industry."

According to research group Business Monitor International, poultry accounts for around 60 per cent of total meat demand in Indonesia, with the production and consumption of poultry growing 3.7 per cent and 5.7 per cent annually respectively over the past decade. Demand for poultry is expected to increase with Indonesia’s rising population and income growth, with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) projecting a 30 per cent rise in Indonesians’ broiler meat consumption, from 1.53 million metric tons in 2012 to an estimated 1.98 million metric tons in 2021.¹

Mr Bachtiar, principal of SMK Agri Insani said, "I’m very pleased and grateful that Cargill has set up this initiative. I believe the program’s emphasis on expert mentorship and hands-on training will prove to be valuable in giving our students the practical skills and confidence to become successful chicken farmers and entrepreneurs."

SMK Agri Insani student, Muhammad Edward said, "I am glad to be able to take part in this program as it provides me with a more complete set of skills. Our learning goes beyond the classroom and we are given field practice with the teaching farm. This addition to our syllabus is also very useful, as we previously learned only about agriculture farming – chicken farming is new to us. I believe that this new knowledge will give me more opportunities when I graduate."

¹ Source: FAPRI-ISU 2012 World Agricultural Outlook