Shared Goals, Sustainable Impact: GIZ and the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture Forge a New MoU

Without much spectacle, yet with long-term consequence, on the morning of 8 January 2026, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Indonesia and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that extended a solid partnership in cooperation with the private sector to empower smallholder farmers.

The renewed MoU provides an adequate framework for collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture, GIZ, and private sector partners in projects funded through the DeveloPPP (“Development Partnerships with the Private Sector”) programme, bringing them together around shared objectives, while ensuring that project implementation remains aligned with agricultural priorities at both national and local levels. 

The continued cooperation under the DeveloPPP framework carries implications reaching beyond bureaucratic necessity and showcase the commitment to strengthen support for smallholder farmers through closer engagement with the private sector. It speaks to a longstanding question in Indonesia’s agricultural landscape: how smallholder farmers—working at the intersection of climate stress and market uncertainty—can be supported through partnerships that are both economically grounded, socially accountable, and ecologically sustainable. The expectation is that such development partnerships with the private sector contribute to building long-term resilience within Indonesia’s agricultural communities and build inclusive and trusted cooperation between smallholders, traders, input suppliers, or buyers and exporters; beyond the project’s lifespan. 

Under the DeveloPPP programme, funded by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation, idea competitions for private companies are published every 6 months. Companies who have identified opportunities that align business success with the achievement of the sustainable development goals can submit their ideas and may receive up to 50% co-funding for their implementation, for example channelled through GIZ and delivered in expertise, trainings, or procurement of equipment. 

In the context of Indonesia, we welcome more ideas to support smallholder farmers across the archipelago and to fill the partnership enshrined in the mentioned MoU with more life.