ACICIS Study Indonesia: Agriculture Professional Practicum

Launched in 2019, this program is suitable for undergraduate students, postgraduate students, and early career professionals.  This program is supported by the Australian Government's New Colombo Plan Mobility Program.  The APP consists of intensive Indonesian language study at an Indonesian partner university, English language lectures by local practitioners and experts in the fields of agriculture, food science, environment and resource management, and a supervised practicum placement with a local or international agricultural, agribusiness, or resource management organisation operating in Indonesia.  This program runs in the Australian summer university break, from early January to mid-February for a six-week intensive period.  The program is designed to cater for students with no existing Indonesian language skills.  Candidates with existing language skills will, however, be welcome. All placements provide an English-language working environment.  Indonesia is rich in natural resources with the second highest biodiversity of any country in the world.  Sharing a strategic waterway with Australia, Indonesia’s fish-rich waters also make it one of the biggest seafood producers in the world, with main commodities including tuna, shrimp and seaweed.  With 45% of workers in Indonesia engaged in agriculture and 31 million hectares of cultivated land, Indonesia is the third largest producer of rice in the world and also a leading producer of sugarcane, cassava, spices, coffee, cocoa, palm oil and rubber.  Despite this, Indonesian agricultural policy is prioritising the diversification of food sources away from cereals, presenting unique challenges for the agriculture and food science sectors.  Indonesia is strategically important to Australia as a principal cattle trade partner and has great potential for further bilateral trade partnerships.