Week 4: Where is the rain?

​This week Rudy, Saga and pak Amir work on the compost facilities as well as the water well. They also have a few inspiring meetings with young farmers from both Lauwo and Makassar!

A valuable encounter

4 People strong, members from the farming community rolled up their sleevest to dig out the soil and build a brick framework for the compost facility. Meanwhile, we continued our work at the Kebun with a few other members. While working we had a chat with one of the locals that came to help us that day. His name is Asrul and calls himself Petani Muda (young farmer).

​Asrul told us he is only 27 years old and that he cultivates a piece of land adjacent to the land of pak Amir, just beyond the river. On this piece of land, a whopping 5 hectares large, he grows a wide variety of fruit trees from cocoa to durian and coconut. 

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If that wasn’t enough reason for me to give him a visit, he also stated he keeps a number of cows.

To us, this is very interesting, because until now we have not been able to provide enough compost for the Kebun on the long run. Collaborating with Asrul, will not only be a first step in attracting more farmers to the project, but he could perhaps also provide biological compost to our and other farms in the future. 

During my visit at Asrul’s modest house (which was situated wonderfully far away from busy roads and traffic) all neighbors came together to enjoy a refreshing drink with us. A discussion quickly arose about how pesticides and poison has affected the health of many farmers in the community for years now. The issues the use of pesticides brings with it are well-known amongst these farmers, but they stated they don’t really know what to do to fix this problem.

​Luckily, Asrul seemed very eager to start producing biologically. A shared compost facility would be a wonderful start in collaborating more closely with Asrul and other community members. 

Still not enough rain

The planting material we distributed last week looked as dry as ever. With a watertank that was, once again, empty, we wouldn’t be able to give the plants what they need. We are hoping for more rain.
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We have finished developing the foundation for the compost facility. However, with a lack of water, we are not able to continue, since we need more cement. Luckily, the process of digging a water well has been set in motion already. On our way to Makassar it would soon appear that the lack of water in this city is an even worse. 

A visit to our peers in the industry!

On the 27th of November we left with a bus for Makassar. It was a long trip, but time seemed to pass by quickly, nevertheless. We planned on visiting a couple of projects that could make good examples for our own. These projects were initiated by the World Agroforestry (ICRAF) and we were curious to find out how these projects have changed the lives of the farmers in the area.

On our way to the villages Tombolo and Kaloling we were suprised by the variety in landscapes that we passed by. Close at sea large water bassins were installed for the purpose of salt mining. The area was incredibly dry and the landscapes was barren. Leaves of trees were discoloured by the abnormal drought.
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First, we visited Mr. Marzuki. Irfan, a young, passionate man, brought us here. For years, Mr. Marzuki’s house had served as a meeting point for the farming community in his village and he was quite happy to receive us (although we had to explain to him, first, that we were not connected to Barry Callebaut or Olam). 

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Just like Asrul, Mr. Marzuki is only 27 years old and is very conscious about the way nature and agriculture could flourish without harming one another.

Mr. Marzuki stated that he had had a lot of offers in the past of numerous big players in the cocoa industry. This caused a lot of confusion amongst the farmers. After all, each player preached his own practice and vision. Nevertheless, Mr. Marzuki stated that these initiatives have helped him a great deal.

Despite the much appreciated guidance of ICRAF (their most recent project partner), the farmers still have not switched to a 100% biological production. He states this is because biological cultivation of cocoa costs a lot more money and energy that is not being compensated by the market. After all, they are still feverishly looking for efficient monocultures that produce bulk cocoa.
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What stood out during our visit is that most farmers we ran into had a relatively small piece of land. The size of land per farmer in Lauwo is much bigger. More hectares, requires more labour and a piece of land that has a wide variety of crops on it, requires more maintenance. This is something we need to keep in mind as the project progresses. 

Agroforestry facts: Did you know?

During our visits at the farmers in Makassar, we discovered that a shade tree that is commonly used, is the cashew. The fruit of the cashew tree is incredibly sweet. Nowadays, one of the farmers grumbled, these kids only want the candy made in the factories, but they used to love snacking on cashew fruit.
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Shade trees are important in an agroforestry system, because other trees in lower canopy layers flourish at their best when overshadowed by larger trees. Meanwhile, the farmer can harvest a good profit of 70.000 RP per kilo of cashews. A good deal! 

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