Zofrawandi: Restoring Fertile Land in Indudur

KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

Head of nagari Indudur village, Koto Sungai Lasi IX district, Solok regency, West Sumatra.

The decision to return to his village in 2007 led Zofrawandi, 47, to becoming the head of nagari Indudur, Koto Sungai Lasi IX district in Solok regency, West Sumatra. Armed with sincerity, resilience and the drive to set an example, Zofrawandi has transformed Indudur from an arid area with many environmental issues into a fertile one.

Zofrawandi is currently one of the best heads of nagari (a community of villages) in West Sumatra and has a series of achievements under his belt, including the 2018 Kalpataru award for environmental defender.

“When I was 18 years old, after graduating from Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 1 [state high school] in Solok, I migrated to Malaysia. While in Malaysia, I visited home several times, including in 2007. Incidentally, the local youths asked me at the time to run as community head,” Zofrawandi said on Wednesday (12/5/2018), on the sidelines of a discussion at Andalas University’s agriculture faculty in Padang,.

Initially, Zofrawandi declined, saying that he did not have much experience in either government or organization. He added that he was only a high school graduate and had no experience in public office. “Even if I had organizational experience, it was only in local students groups and school organizations,” he said.

However, eventually he ran in the local election against the incumbent. “If I was elected, it meant that God believed I had the skills. If I wasn’t, God saved me from all harm,” he said.

Zofrawandi narrowly won the election, winning eight more votes than his opponent. “After I was elected, I again tried to tell myself that this position was a mandate I must accept,” he said. He asked himself whether he would carry out the mandate in an ordinary way or if he would try to make changes. He decided on the latter.

“The salary of the nagari head back then was around Rp 950,000. It was a financial loss for me, compared to what I could make if I stayed and worked in Malaysia However, my willingness and goodwill to develop the nagari helped keep to my decision,” he said.

Environmental defender

Zofrawandi began his journey as the nagari head by looking at the problems in Indudur, located about 75 kilometers east of Padang municipality. The collection of villages, which has a current population of around 700 and has a community forest area (HK) that was declared in a 2013 decree, faced many environmental problems.

“Indudur used to be barren. At the same time, there was widespread illegal logging that caused natural disasters, such as landslides. People who depended on agriculture had no choice but to hunt protected

wildlife, such as deer, pangolin and birds,” said Zofrawandi.

Starting with this issue, Zofrawandi began in 2008 to look for ways to change the community’s lifestyle in order to protect the environment and make a direct impact on their livelihoods. Together with the community’s stakeholders, he began to issue a number of local bylaws on the environment to improve the local economy, such as Bylaw No. 2/2007 on improving the local economy. The bylaw requires each family to plant mature but still productive plants on a 0.5-hectare plot.

In addition to regulating environmental management, the bylaw also stipulates sanctions and rewards. The village with the best performance would receive a certificate as well as assistance in the form of agricultural equipment, as long as the nagari could provide it.

To date, Indudur has issued 20 bylaws, including a bylaw on illegal logging. Neither the local residents nor third parties may harvest timber, particularly in protected forests. Those who violate the bylaw are fined 10 sacks of cement and will be denied service in government and customary matters.

“In addition, there is also a bylaw that requires married couples to plant trees on 0.5 hectare of land. There is also a bylaw that prohibits people from hunting deer and other protected animals, including birds, as well as one on preserving the rivers and fish so that they don’t die out,” said Zofrawandi.

The local residents are also prohibited from playing cards during the day. “Daytime is the time for working in the fields or gardens, not for playing cards, let alone gambling,” he said.

The bylaws cannot be issued overnight. Each bylaw goes through several stages in a process that includes public dissemination, which can take from four months to a year. “Usually, we take the initiative to ask for public input,” said Zofrawandi. As the nagari head, he also tries to set a public example.

“Before issuing a bylaw, I also plant trees, for example 2,000 mahogany and rubber trees on 2 hectares. I used my own money,” he said.

Zofrawandi’s efforts since he became the nagari’s guardian and through his 2013 reelection have brought many changes to Indudur. Apart from eradicating illegal logging and natural disasters, the community has benefited from their productive crops, such as candlenut, rubber, areca nut, cacao and resin.

Today, Indudur produces 2 tons of candlenut in one week that is sold raw. However, going forward, the community is mulling how to produce derivative and value-added products.

“We now have a nagari-owned business that runs all local economic activities,” said Zofrawandi, who was reelected in 2013 as the Indudur head with 85 percent of all votes.

Another visible improvement in Indudur is that the people no longer sell their paddy harvests. “In the past, the people sold their rice every harvest season to buy daily needs. However, now they make enough money from the plantation. So they can store their rice for [personal] daily consumption,” he said.

Together, Zofrawandi and Indudur have earned 17 awards.

For Zofrawandi, the various awards that he and Indudur had received were a reward for the hard work he and the community stakeholders had undertaken with sincerity and dedication. “From this experience, I have arrived at the view that people who have never sat in government, people who have minimal government experience but are sincere in their work, will definitely be rewarded. My principle is that if I am able to serve the community well and the community feels that they are being served, I am satisfied,” he said.

Zofrawandi

Born: Indudur, April 11, 1970

Education: MAN 1 Solok senior high school

Wife: Agustina Siminatri

Child: Hafiza Ghania

Awards:

- Outstanding nagari head (2010)

- Best nagari head, West Sumatra (2011)

- Kalpataru Award, West Sumatra (2018)

- Environmental award: Indudur (2018)