Governing animal welfare through organizational roles: an ex-ante analysis of the Animal Welfare Officer under the Minister of Agriculture Regulation No. 32/2025
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Date
2026-06-30
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Pusat Sosial Ekonomi dan Kebijakan Pertanian
Abstract
Animal welfare has become an increasingly important governance issue in livestock systems, driven by growing public concern, regulatory development, and demands for more credible oversight across production chains. In this context, Indonesia’s Minister of Agriculture Regulation No. 32 of 2025 introduces the Animal Welfare Officer (AWO) as an internal compliance actor within livestock-related operations. Using qualitative documentary analysis, this study evaluates the AWO role as a policy instrument for embedding animal welfare compliance in practice, examining it as an internal governance mechanism within Indonesia’s newly enacted animal welfare regulation. This study contributes to the literature by providing one of the first ex-ante analyses of the Animal Welfare Officer as an internal regulatory intermediary within Indonesia's emerging animal welfare governance framework. The findings show that the regulation recognizes the AWO as an important internal compliance actor, but several key design elements remain insufficiently specified. Compared with the more explicit regulatory construction of animal welfare auditors, the AWO framework provides less clarity on eligibility, competency standardization, and institutionalized training pathways. The regulation also gives limited attention to safeguards for internal reporting, escalation, and consistent implementation across farm, transport, and slaughter contexts. These gaps may undermine the credibility of implementation, especially in multilevel governance settings characterized by uneven institutional readiness and human resource capacity. The study findings recommended that nationally recognized competency specifications, tiered training pathways, stronger collaboration with universities and professional associations, and clearer accountability safeguards be implemented.
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E Economics, development, and rural sociology/Ekonomi, Pembangunan dan Sosiologi Pedesaan::E10 Agricultural economics and policies/Ekonomi dan Kebijaksanaan Nasional mengenai pertanian, E Economics, development, and rural sociology/Ekonomi, Pembangunan dan Sosiologi Pedesaan::E11 Land economics and policies/Ekonomi dan Kebijaksanaan Nasional mengenai Lahan, E Economics, development, and rural sociology/Ekonomi, Pembangunan dan Sosiologi Pedesaan::E14 Development economics and policies/Ekonomi dan Kebijaksanaan Pembangunan