Agricultural policies can only be effective if intended beneficiaries are sufficiently aware of them. This basic condition for policy success is substantially challenged by smallholder farmers’ lack of awareness of existing support schemes. We studied the perceptions of 600 farmers of preservation policies for the traditional Indonesian Ongole cattle breed. We measured farmers’ knowledge of existing policies, their perceived ease of participation, their participation level and their satisfaction with the benefits obtained. We found that the target group has little awareness of existing policies. Policy awareness increases with education, the less remote the farm is, and with increasing specialization in cattle farming. We recommend therefore that policymakers should simplify and redesign existing policy schemes to create one coordinated policy. The various support schemes currently implemented should be combined in this policy and it should be presented in such a way that is easily understood by farmers. Incentives for Ongole breeders should be tailored, the establishment of farmers groups facilitated, and a breeding and selection programme initiated to improve the genetic potential of Ongole for domestic beef production.

只有预期的受益者充分意识到农业政策，农业政策才能有效。小农户缺乏对现有支持计划的认识，极大地挑战了政策成功的基本条件。我们研究了600位农民对印尼传统Ongole牛品种的保存政策的看法。我们衡量了农民对现行政策的了解，他们对参与的感觉的容易程度，参与程度以及对获得的收益的满意度。我们发现目标群体对现有政策知之甚少。政策意识随着教育程度的提高，农场的偏远地区以及养牛业的专业化而提高。因此，我们建议政策制定者应简化和重新设计现有的政策方案，以创建一项协调一致的政策。当前实施的各种支持计划应与本政策相结合，并以农民易于理解的方式提出。应定制针对Ongole育种者的激励措施，促进农民群体的建立，并启动育种和选择计划以提高Ongole在国内牛​​肉生产中的遗传潜力。