The effects of public private partnerships on smallholder cocoa farmers' livelihoods in Indonesia : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Abstract

Public private partnerships (PPPs) have emerged as a development strategy in various sectors in several developed countries since the late 1970s. In the Indonesian context, however, PPPs in the agriculture sector are relatively new. This thesis explores claims that PPPs can be a potential development approach to address rural poverty and improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers. By utilising the Sustainable Livelihood Approach, this thesis investigates various PPP ideas and practices in the Indonesian agricultural sector and explores the extent to which a PPP implementation has affected smallholder farmers’ livelihoods and what it means for them. This study is driven by the idea that the nature of a PPP involves a complex and dynamic relationship that encompasses diverse interests and resources. A content analysis of four different PPP project reports and one case study, the PPP within the Rural Empowerment and Agricultural Development (READ-PPP) project in Indonesia, found that PPPs are quite diverse in the agriculture sector and particularly in the cocoa sector. Having used qualitative research methods, involving semi-structured interviews with twelve smallholder cocoa farmers and eight informants from relevant institutions, this study shows that the READ-PPP has had varying impacts on farmers’ livelihoods. Most farmers felt improvements in their capacity, cocoa productivity, income, and they made behaviour changes as a result of the programme. This study also reveals that the farmers did not equally experience the benefits of the programme. The three key challenges that affected the farmers’ experiences of the programme included: a lack of company support as a service provider, a lack of sustainability of outcomes, and the individual farmers’ level of resources. Analysis of the results also found that farmers who were geographically close to company operations had better outcomes than farmers in other areas, which showed that the company involved in the PPP has a particular interest to pursue its company's benefits. In this respect, this thesis concludes that the effects of PPPs in addressing rural poverty and improving smallholder cocoa farmers' livelihoods have been inequitable.