Business Development and Innovation among Chicken and Cattle Farmers in Rural Areas, Indonesia

The study is part of major research on competency development and dissemination to increase innovation among chicken and cattle farmers as part of a national food security programme in Indonesia. The study aims to identify business development and innovation development among chicken and cattle farmers in rural areas. A total of 149 chicken and cattle farmers were selected as respondents from two provinces of Indonesia (Yogyakarta Province and East Nusa Tenggara Province) using multi–stage sampling. The results showed that the number of cattle increased slightly in three years (2007–2009) while the number of chickens decreased over the same time period. In terms of business innovation, use of veterinary medicines, artificial insemination and vaccines were higher than other forms of business innovativeness in Gunung Kidul while, in Ngada, innovations such as credit, feed fermentation and waste processing were still not familiar. The problem of accessing capital was the most challenging among the various problems faced by farmers, such as healthcare, feed management, reproductive management, and marketing. Keywords: rural area, chicken farmer, cattle farmer, business development, innovation developmen