Women Farmers Struggle Amid Search for Peatland Solutions

KOMPAS/DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO

Made Miri (60), a farmer from Bali who has lived in Kapuas, Central Kalimantan for decades, stands in the middle of his cassava plantation, on Sunday (20/9/2020). Apart from cassava they also plant pineapples. Everything is processed without burning.

Developing the Central Kalimantan peatlands without resorting to slash-and-burn agriculture is not an easy task. Reluctant to give up on the situation, women farmers in the inland regions of Central Kalimantan have been innovating their own solutions.

Sri Maryati, 44, and Jiyarti, 36, were busy making fried dragon fruit sticks on Wednesday afternoon (23/9/2020) on the terrace of a wooden house in Kandan village of Kotawaringin Timur regency, Central Kalimantan. The dough was made from wheat flour, tapioca flour, and various spices, to which dragon fruit pulp had been added. The dragon fruit they used were grade-two fruits, the prices of which had been falling recently.

"We have been making dragon fruit sticks for the past two years with the fruits our husbands have harvested from the farm, which have been eaten by pests," said Jiyarti.

Kandan village is indeed renowned for producing dragon fruits. At least 53 hectares the village lands are used to cultivate dragon fruit. The remaining land of around 20 ha is used to produce various agricultural commodities, such as rubber and paddy rice.

Most of the villagers grow dragon fruit on their farms and in their yards.

Kandan village is home to 625 families, 350 of which are migrant families. Most of the villagers grow dragon fruit on their farms and in their yards.

East Kotawaringin Regent Supian Hadi promoted the cultivation of dragon fruit in early 2019, which resulted in an abundant yield during the first harvest. However, pests have been rampant since then.

In the beginning, a 1 ha area – the span of a football field – produced 3-4 tons of dragon fruit. Today, it is considered lucky if 1 ha produces just 100 kilograms (kg) of the fruit.

This year, the farm that belongs to Sri\'s husband has not produced any dragon fruits.

"Even if there was, the quality of the fruit is poor and their [selling] price is really low," said Sri.

Top-quality dragon fruits sell for Rp 25,000 per kg, while grade-two fruits sell for Rp 10,000 per kg. After the local crops suffered pest attacks that caused circular lesions on the leaves resembling smallpox, the selling price dropped to Rp 5,000 per kg.

The Sumber Rejeki Female Farmers Group that Sri chairs sought a solution for the drop in the dragon fruit price. With 30 members, the group has innovated to produce fried snacks and dodol (a toffee-like confectionery) from grade-two dragon fruits.

"The inner [flesh] of the fruits are actually undamaged, there are only spots on the skin. In terms of flavor, it is the same as the good-quality fruit. Consumers simply do not want to buy them, so we used them to make fried sticks,” she said.

KOMPAS/DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO

Sumber Rejeki Farming Women Group in Kandan Village, East Kotawaringin Regency, Central Kalimantan, made dragon fruit sticks, on Wednesday (23/9/2020).

The East Kotawaringin Regency Agriculture Office then took the idea and developed it further, providing the group with training and equipment assistance funds. The villagers then also joined the endeavor to produce the snacks, which they sell for Rp 12,500 for a 200-gram package and Rp 25,000 for a 400-gram package.

The sales of the snacks have been able to compensate for the falling price of dragon fruits, and the snacks have even reached the provincial capital of Palangkaraya.

As with Kandan village’s farmers group, a female farmers’ group in West Gandang village is also innovating to develop their farms on peatlands. Agricultural development in peatland areas is especially problematic, due to a local policy that bans slash-and-burn farming.

Despite suffering a fallout from the Covid-19 health emergency, which has decreased the sales turnover of locally produced coffee, the female farmers looked for an alternative solution, and started producing smaller packages for selling at roadside stalls in the village.

"The [earnings] are not bad, as they make up for the reduced profits from sales to cafes in the city," said Iin Darwati, who chairs Kelompok Usaha Bersama Bisa (“Together We Can” venture group).

But they face crop failure if they do not use the slash-and-burn method.

These two groups of female farmers have something in common: They refrain from planting rice for fear of being sent to prison or harvest failures. They can face prison time if they clear the land by burning for rice paddies. But they face crop failure if they do not use the slash-and-burn method,.

Saruman, the 53-year-old chairman of the Lancang Mandiri Farmers Group, said that he had originally grown rice on his 1 ha farm. However, he experienced two failed harvests the two times he tried to grow rice without burning the land to clear it.

"Everything was done by hand, without any equipment, without any tricks, so [the crop] failed. I am sure many farmers experienced the same thing," he said.

Food program

The female farmers’ groups are located far from the hectic development of the government’s food estate program in the regencies of Pulang Pisau and Kapuas in Central Kalimantan. The Indonesian government broke ground on the 30,600 ha project this year, starting with 10,600 ha in Pulang Pisau and 20,000 ha in Kapuas.

KOMPAS/DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO

Shifting cultivators in Batu Nindan Village, Kapuas Regency, Central Kalimantan unwind in the vegetable and fruit garden they manage without burning, on Sunday (20/9/2020).

The farmers groups in the two districts are not very different from the groups of farmers who work in peatland areas. However, the farmers groups in the vicinity of the food estate megaproject have been able to develop and manage their peatlands without burning them.

Those farmers were able to convert the local peat swamp forests into rice fields. However, they had received government assistance through the Agriculture Ministry, which provided them with agricultural equipment such as 200 two-wheel tractors and 150 four-wheel tractors. They then used the equipment to clear 1,000 ha of land for a planting ceremony to welcome the arrival of President Joko Widodo in Central Kalimantan.

This was more than sufficient to meet the rice demand in Central Kalimantan over the two-month period, and resulted in a surplus of 17,851 tons of unhusked rice.

Central Kalimantan currently has a surplus of rice. This is again thanks to the regencies of Pulang Pisau and Kapuas, the two largest rice producers in Central Kalimantan. Data at the Central Kalimantan Food Crop, Horticulture and Agriculture Office show that the two regencies harvested up to 44,448.69 ha (almost four times the city area of Bogor) of paddy fields in March-April 2020 to yield 129,041.11 tons of unhusked rice. This was more than sufficient to meet the rice demand in Central Kalimantan over the two-month period, and resulted in a surplus of 17,851 tons of unhusked rice.

Sunarti, the head of the Central Kalimantan Food Crops, Horticulture and Animal Husbandry Office, said that the office planned to cultivate cassava on 1 million hectares outside the peat forest, adding that all agricultural programs aimed to improve the welfare of local communities.

Many areas outside the site of the food estate program are still struggling to develop the peatlands without using the slash-and-burn to meet the food needs of their families. Although they may not be part of the national strategic project, female farmers in Central Kalimantan continue to innovate, turning their unfavorable conditions into opportunities to improve their welfare.