Week 2: Learning together

1/24/2020

This week, Rudy and Saga report on the project trip. While Fatima (chairman of La Galigo) has returned to the Netherlands after a productive time in Indonesia, an exciting and educational challenge within the farming community of Lauwo awaits Rudy and Saga.

Zooming in on the model garden

Almost every morning, we start working in the Kebun (garden) at 7 AM sharp, in order to investigate the current situation, together with Bapak Amir. We also use this valuable time to make progress towards a revised design for the garden. Once the soil of the Kebun imoroves, it is important that the number of different types of crops and vegetation is increased.

Since our last visit, 7 months ago, the garden has become greener and better vegatated, with a nice amount of cocoa pods (fruits). Some of the pods have a few rotten spots, which are caused by a type of fruit flies. They need to be caught soon, but we haven't found the right method yet.

Something else struck our attention as well. During garden maintenance, Bapak Amir explains to us that we cannot prune too much during this time of year (musim kemarau, or dry season). This is because the tree saps are very active during this time of year, and not as tolerant to pruning.

However, it is already November, while the rainy season usually starts in September. As Bapak Amir tells us, it is not the first time that the rainy season fails to commence. Last year, no rain fell between August and February.

From a cycling trip to a mountain bike race!

On November 10th, Bapak Muhammed Syukri (camat or head of subdistrict Burau) picks us up early to attend a cross country event. According to Bapak Amir, it is important for us to participate in the bike trip, as the head (Bupati) of district Luwu Timur will be there too.

Furthermore, the event will be a great opportunity for us to pitch some of the ideas of the farming community, such as the request for machinery and compost bins. Bapak Amir stresses how hard it is to involve people in the project on a voluntary basis, so it is very important to build up a connection within the local community, based on trust.

That's why we unsuspectingly left for the event, which turned out to be much more than just a local excursion of people who like to take their bicycles into the mountains. The course, measuring 14(!) kilometres, is a weekly happening that attracts hundreds of mountain bikers from the island. Not to mention, it's not just a bike ride - it's a real race! We started the race in good spirits. From the main road of Burau, we were led into the mountains, where we became surrounded by palm oil plantations. And it showed. Because of the lack of crop diversity, it was extremely hot there! The roads were parched as the trees had just been planted and offered no shade.

Fighting against flies: In pursuit of the ideal solution

Bapak Amir has proposed a solution for the fruit flies damaging the fruits. Certainly, it is not the ideal solution, as it makes use of petrogenol. This is a poison, which violates our wish to cultivate in an organic way. This is why we have extensively discussed with our Dutch study group on agroforestry: Anna's Tuin en Ruigte.

João, biologist and expert in permaculture, agroforestry and rural development, is attached to this study group and supports team La Galigo with his agroforestry manual and tailored advice in our WhatsApp group!

Even though it is not the ideal solution, we have decided to use the petrogenol. Fortunately, the poison does not get into direct contact with the soil or the trees. While we repel the flies for now, we are looking for a better solution. For instance, we could look for the natural enemy of the fly, or surround the cocoa trees with crops that the fly doesn't particularly like.

A valuable discussion

Bapak Amir and Ibu Fatimah have extensively studied the agroforestry manual. Bapak Amir indicates that he finds it difficulte to redesign the existing garden, as he doesn't really know where to start.

Ibu Fatimah seems a bit sceptical about possible rearrangement too. For instance, she doesn't like the idea of displacing the jackfruit tree in order to provide shade to the cocoa trees, as she knows from experience that the jackfruit tree attracts pbk mosquitoes that make the cocoa tree sick.

It will be a challenge to find the right balance between our own theoretical knowledge and experience, and years of experience of the farmers on the project location. We hope to create the right design together with the study groups of both the farming community and the one in the Netherlands.

The project is, and will remain, a learning process for us and for the local community. That is exactly what makes it beautiful!

Agroforestry facts: Did you know?

In the Kebun, one of the things we're busy doing, is pruning. But the herbal materials that we cut away are anything but waste! We spread the organic material over the ground, so it can compost. This way, the nutrients in this organic material will become available for the trees.

Organic material of banana trees and coconuts are a good source of potassium, iron, magnesium, copper and zinc. Coconuts have also proven themselves as a source of growth hormones and as a growth stimulant for healthy bacteria in the ground.