Aceh Singkil

Partners

General Mills, Musim Mas, and Aceh Local Government

What is the Program About?

In February 2021, we collaborated with General Mills and the local government to establish a Smallholder Hub in Aceh Singkil, contributing to a deforestation-free and exploitation-free supply chain. Musim Mas uses a train-the-trainers approach in the Smallholders Hub, training Village Extension Officers (VEOs) to teach the smallholders in their area. This helps to build local capacity as well.

The aim is to empower independent smallholders to turn knowledge of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) into action by giving them access to resources such as financial literacy and government subsidies for replanting. Smallholders are also taught to diversify their income sources such that their income levels are not vastly affected during replanting periods.

General Mills pledged to fund the first year of this two-year program. The program leverages General Mills’ experience in advancing sustainable sourcing innovations across a growing list of global commodities. Musim Mas supports this work by providing satellite-tracking reports on deforestation and training agricultural officers on the Musim Mas curriculum. Musim Mas and the Local Government held a training session highlighting the importance of land legality to smallholders as part of our collaboration with General Mills.

We initially envisioned training 20 VEOs a year but have trained 75 in the first two years, reaching the maximum number we aim to train ahead of schedule. We expected to engage with 1,000 smallholders as part of our initial partnership deal with General Mills but, as of February 2023, have already engaged with 1,050. In June 2023, General Mills renewed their collaboration with us for a third year of this program and extend reach to an additional 250 independent smallholders.