Sustainable and Traceable Natural Rubber (STNR)
Indonesia,
ongoing
Empowering smallholder rubber farmers in West Kalimantan through social risk mitigation, digital traceability, and regenerative agriculture practices.
Indonesia is preparing and aligning itself for the roll-out of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). To empower smallholder rubber farmers to produce sustainable, traceable, and legally compliant natural rubber and enable their continued access to global markets, SNV and partners are implementing the Sustainable and Traceable Natural Rubber (STNR) project.
About the project
The STNR project is supported by the larger GIZ-funded Sustainable Agriculture for Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) project (2025 - 2026). SNV, together with its partners Agridence (AGD) and PT Kirana Megatara (KMG), will implement the STNR project in the districts of Sintang, Sanggau, and Landak.
Our approach
Our approach is centred around three integrated components: social sustainability and safeguards, digital traceability, and economic empowerment. Its goal is to position Indonesian rubber as a sustainable and competitive commodity. The approach is expected to enhance farmers’ resilience, protect ecosystems, and ensure legal compliance for long-term market access. In detail, the three approaches will:
Improving the social welfare of rubber farmers by developing a participatory social and environmental risks and needs assessment framework. This framework will help identify key challenges related to land legality, labour conditions, gender equality, human rights, and ecological risks.
Through focus group discussions and farmer surveys, SNV and partners will gather data to map risks geospatially on the Agridence Rubber Platform (ARP). These insights will guide mitigation strategies and inform training programs on human and labour rights, child protection and other essential social safeguards. The project will also help smallholders obtain cultivation licenses, a key legal requirement in Indonesia.
Building traceability systems to meet EUDR compliance. AGD provides digital tools—including the AgriTrace app—enabling smallholders to map their plantations, complete sustainability surveys, and register transactions. SNV and KMG will train lead farmers and local extension workers to scale this effort across 1,000 smallholders and 1,000 hectares of rubber plantations.
A rewards system will encourage farmers and intermediaries to participate in traceable transactions. At the processing level, KMG will segregate EUDR-compliant rubber and implement a dedicated production line, backed by an improved pricing scheme to reward compliance. The traceability data will be linked directly to physical shipments, enabling tire manufacturers and other buyers to verify compliance through the ARP platform.
Economic development and institutional strengthening. SNV will enhance the capacity of farmer organisations by using proven institutional development modules adapted from previous initiatives. These modules assist farmer organisations in improving governance, financial management, and market access.
SNV will also provide training in regenerative rubber farming based on improved management practices tailored to local conditions. This training will be delivered via a Training of Trainers (ToT) model, thus building local capacity among extension agents, champion farmers, and representatives of farmer organisations. AGD will digitise the training materials to increase accessibility for a wider audience.
