The dynamics of knowledge exchange and working together

The month of February was all about planting the model garden, with as highlight the course of agroforestry expert pak Tony. In addition, we also had extra support from volunteer Saga, intern Onno, local farmers and acquaintances.

Mini nursery garden
After collecting and growing a lot of crops in January, such as markisa (passion fruit), avocado, black pepper, kelor (moringa tree) and ebony, it was time to create a good place to store these seedlings. This has led to creating the mini nursery garden, a shady spot under the banana trees next to the model garden.

Here our seedlings wait until they can be introduced into the model garden. The banana trees provide the ideal conditions in which our seedlings grow best, because the large leaves offer sufficient shade. In addition, a sheltered spot ensures that there are not too many insects in one place, because there are crops that attract a lot of insects. Of course it is also nice for us humans to look for shade at the hottest moment of the day ;-). 
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Should funds become available for this in the future, the plan is to make the mini nursery garden a lot bigger, so that we can grow vegetables and other crops that are not only useful for diversity but also beautiful to look at, like flowers! These attract pollinators such as bees, which in turn have a positive effect on the ecosystem. The vegetables can be sold for extra income and can be used for own consumption. 

Mini nursery under the banana trees.

Apprenticed to pak Tony
Agroforestry expert pak Tony was in Lauwo for four days in mid-February and shared his knowledge and experiences with the local farmers. He lives on the island of Flores and has a number of agroforestry projects with local communities. He has a lot of experience as a cocoa field coordinator at Rikolto Indonesia. In his position he has given training to farmers. Since January 2020 he works as an independent consultant and trains farmers in holistic cultivation methods without applying pesticides. He uses agroforestry knowledge and the local wisdom from Flores called 'Ongen', which is a cultivation method where different crops are combined with each other.
During the introduction in the early morning we soon noticed that pak Tony is an enthusiastic man and he expresses his passion for the profession with a lot of humour. In this way he certainly got the attention of the local farmers and interesting exchanges arose during the course. A good example of this was how you can prune best and which plants and trees give the best results by, among other things, being able to feed the soil quickly. It was also important to take into account that the banana tree should be planted in the right place between the cocoa trees to create the best possible shade. Therefore, some banana trees that were already there had to be moved. In addition, he introduced a tool called PROMI which stands for 'Promoting Mikroba' and that literally means 'promoting microorganisms'. In a balanced ecosystem, the right bacteria and fungi are essential. By introducing these, you create a healthy soil. While immediately showing the theory in practice, pak Tony talked about agroforestry and the transition to organic cultivation in combination with the use of PROMI. He said: 'Don't believe me, first try it yourself'. A nice quote from him that sounds weird at first, but it did indicate that it is very important to test things for yourself before assuming them from someone else. 

Meet Saga!

Team La Galigo presents: Saga, our second volunteer who joined us in Indonesia for 2 months. She is 24 years old and works in the Netherlands for a nursery garden where (fruit) trees are grown in a natural way. She loves to be busy in nature and her goal is to retrieve the balance between humans and nature. In other words: restore this imbalance by applying agroforestry. The first step she took to achieve this goal was in November 2019, when she went to Lauwo together with Rudy and Fatima to restructure the existing organic cocoa model garden into a multi-crop agroforestry model garden.

​In December and January she travelled around Indonesia but she was so enthusiastic about the project that she returned to the model garden in February 2020. Through her efforts a lot has been achieved. First of all she worked on the model garden, which in the future will be part of the education center for farmers, students, volunteers, professionals and other interested people. Then she contributed to a plan of action to further set up the model garden and compost house. Because the farmers suffer from climate change, there are large periods of drought. In order to provide the model garden with water, a rainwater tank has been purchased and installed, and a well has been dug to collect extra water. 

Because of her connecting qualities she has enthused children and women to work with nature. This is a very important development, because being able to set up a project like La Galigo requires intrinsic motivation and awareness. Finally, she has taught English to the local kids and has had the opportunity to learn Bahasa better and better herself! 

Thank you Saga for your hard work and sharing your knowledge. We hope that we can continue our cooperation in the future, both in the Netherlands and in Indonesia!

The farmers listen closely to Pak Tony.

What is the best way to prune?

Applying agroforestry under the guidance of pak Tony
​He also helped us tremendously in tackling the model garden, such as making our very first load of compost for our compost house and adapting the design of the model garden. There were a number of trees that were not in the right place so they couldn't provide optimal shade. Afterwards it turned out that we could plant more crops together on one piece of land. Well, that's a good thing! We also worked on setting up a good and clear planting system. When the design of the model garden was finished, under the guidance of pak Tony, we could immediately start putting the planting system into practice by placing rows of plants that will serve as an example for the entire garden. We planted pineapple, sweet potato, black pepper and ginger. These crops serve as good ground cover. After a few days you could already recognize a clear structure. 
Step by step, the implementation of agroforestry is starting to become more visible! For example, every 12 metres there is now a coconut palm next to the cocoa trees. After a while, the large leaves of the coconut palm will grow and transform into elegant fans. This way, the palm provides shade to the trees growing underneath. Furthermore, every 7 metres there are avocado, durian, kelor and petai cuttings. The correct placement of mulch trees was also determined. According to pak Tony, there were large shadow trees that were out of control. In other words: these trees had become too big so it was almost impossible to prune them. Pak Tony shared his pruning knowledge with us and told us that the cocoa trees could be pruned a lot more, because they only need 30% shade. Then we pruned these trees all the way back. The pruning makes the cocoa trees a lot more open and 'cleaner' so that more food and energy goes to the fruit. This reduces the chance of diseases and the tree will provide the right amount of shade to its fellow crops. Now we know how a good pruning system can be applied in the right way! After the departure of pak Tony, we continued the action: collecting coconut husks. A big advantage is that the husks last a long time.

Making compost for the model garden.

Rows of pineapple, sweet potato, black pepper and ginger.

Collecting coconut husks.

‘Tempat sampah!’ (trash bin)
The children and grandchildren of pak Amir have become extremely enthusiastic about tackling the (plastic) waste problem. Together we dug a big hole in the garden next to the house. Then, by joint effort, all the waste was collected in the pit and as a finishing touch, the children made a sign 'tempat sampah!', which means 'trash bin!'. That’s done, loud and clear! We do this because there is no system for non-degradable waste. The farmers themselves have to take care of getting rid of the waste by incinerating it. Pak Amir does this regularly, but always at random places around the house. This way, remnants of (burnt) waste arise all around the house. In order to preserve the natural beauty and not to damage the soil too much, there is now the 'tempat sampah' where from now on the waste will be collected and burned. We are hard at work looking for a better solution for the future that is more in the direction of zero waste. After all, good waste processing cannot be seen separately from the project and will certainly receive the necessary attention. One idea is to make our own soap with, among others, Ierak's (Sapindus Rarak) soapberries. Then it will no longer be necessary to buy sachets, so that ensures less waste!

A pit in the garden for collecting waste.

Covered with shelves, this becomes the central place for all waste.

As a finishing touch the plate with 'Tempat Sampah' on it.

Intern Onno
La Galigo presents the first intern of our team: tropical forestry student Onno! He will join us in Lauwo for a couple of weeks and see how things are going in Lauwo. The plan is that Onno will do research on different agroforestry projects and compare them with each other. We want to use this valuable information for the further implementation of agroforestry in the project. While writing this blog, Covid-19 has changed the situation. In our next blog we will tell you how we had to change the plans for Onno's internship. To be continued...  

Pak Amir and intern Onno.

Pak Amir, Saga and Onno visiting another farmer.

Vrijwilliger Saga en stagiair Onno.

Reflections
Because of our long stay in Lauwo and working on the model garden we meet more and more local farmers and also get in touch with local organizations. This development is only possible if you work on a project yourself on the spot and also get in touch with farmers and organisations in the area. In addition, it is good if you go to local events and also organize events or trainings yourself, resulting in great new collaborations and exchange of knowledge. This is an important 'breeding ground' for a fertile future! 
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Do you have any ideas for us or would you like to let us know what you thought of this blog? Let us know by leaving a comment below!