Akat, Gaining Success with Shallots

KOMPAS/IQBAL BASYARI

Akat

Akat, 51, is not a typical shallot farmer. His concerns for and interest in the plant has encouraged him to experiment with growing new shallot varieties for more than three decades. He has produced seven new shallot varieties in Anjuk Ladang, Nganjuk, East Java. Thanks to his achievements, Nganjuk has now become a major source of shallot seeds.

Cultivating shallots is no easy matter. In addition to mastering cultivation techniques, it is also necessary to have shallot seeds suited for growing in the local environment. Not infrequently, shallot cultivation does not produce optimal yields because the selected variety is not suited to the endemic conditions.

His concerns prompted Akat to try his hand at breeding different shallot varieties. Akat faced many problems since he starting farming shallots 32 years ago, from pest attacks to unsuitable weather and farming techniques for producing optimal yield.

However, he did not give up. Armed with his experience, Akat crossed several types of shallots to create superior varieties that were adaptive to local conditions and produced high yields.

Akat successfully developed seven new shallot varieties with the Vegetable Crop Research Institute (Balitsa) in 2002-2018: the Sembrani, Katumi, Pikatan, Trisula, Pancasona, Mentes and Tajuk varieties. Because of his efforts, Akat was invited to name the new varieties.

“The newest variety is Tajuk, referring to the Javanese plantations in Nganjuk. This variety is the result of crossing several local shallot varieties,” Akat said Thursday (2/13/2019) in Nganjuk regency.

Although Akat does not have an education in agriculture, he was able to produce these superior shallot varieties. Akat, who dropped out of an electrical engineering major at the Nganjuk SMK PGRI 1 vocational school, used part of his 700-square meter farm to experiment in developing top-quality shallot varieties.

When developing new varieties, Akat focuses on the desired characteristics of the shallot variety he wants to develop. “I don\'t understand the theory, but when I checked with [the information at] Balitsa, it turned out the process I was employing was the same as the theory,” said Akat, who cofounded the Indonesian Shallot Seed Association.

Some of the things he considers when developing shallot seeds are that they have high market demand, are highly productive, are resistant to pest attacks and can be stored for a long time.

Seed buffer

Another thing that must be considered is that the new variety is suitable for growing in the local environment, particularly as the shallot seeds are developed for planting not only in Nganjuk, but also in several other regions.

“Nganjuk is a national center for shallot seeds because it distributes shallot seeds to several shallot producing areas, such as Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Nusa Tenggara,” he said.

Creating a new shallot variety usually takes Akat more than a year. He must go through several stages so that the new seeds pass certification and testing processes such as for location and purification. Each test differs in length from from one seed variety to another. The lengthy development process usually involves planting the seeds of new varieties up to nine times in different areas.

“My neighbors told me to stop experimenting because they said my efforts were useless,” said Akat.

Many plants died while he experimented with crossing several shallot varieties. The hybridization experiments tested the resilience of new varieties in whether they could grow without fertilizer or survive pests, and other abilities.

Today, almost every shallot farmer in Nganjuk sells seeds. Shallot seeds from Nganjuk are known as some of the best in the country. The farmers in the Nganjuk area have been empowered, albeit on a small scale, by selling their crops and seeds to other regions.

Akat’s love for shallots has grown since he was in middle school, when he aspired to become an agriculture extension worker (PPL) and dreamed of being assigned to remote regions to help empower farmers. He wanted to increase the incomes of shallot farmers like his father.

His dreams of obtaining an agriculture degree were crushed when he did not pass the entrance exam for an agriculture school and became “trapped” in studying electrical engineering at a vocational high school. After two years at the vocational school, Akat decided to quit and start farming shallots.

Reference

Akat went beyond tending to his plants like other shallot farmers. As a farmer who was invited the State Palace by the sixth Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, he has become a source of knowledge for university students studying shallot cultivation. “Many of them ask for my help in testing shallots for their thesis or research papers,” he said.

As one of the few farmers who have been developing shallot varieties, Akat is generous in sharing his knowledge. He opened the Pangrukti Tani Self-Sustaining Agriculture and Rural Training Center (P4S) about 10 meters from his house.

At Pangrukti Tani, he trains shallot farmers and prospective shallot farmers from across the country. Groups of farms stay at the center almost every week. The training materials include information on nutrition, protecting crops and the ecology of shallots. The shallot training center and its instructors have even expanded to 20 subdistricts in Nganjuk.

“I am also a frequent speaker and invited to train shallot farmers in several Indonesian regions,” said Akat.

Over time, he realized that using a blend of many chemicals, such as from fertilizers, would damage the natural environment. Akat is thus currently developing an organic method of shallot farming. He keeps goats in his fields and uses their manure for fertilizer.

Akat hopes that Indonesian shallot farmers can become more prosperous. High productivity can be achieved with the proper knowledge and the proper shallot seeds to suit the local environment.

It would be ironic if a country with fertile lands like Indonesia has to import shallots, when they can be produced at home.

Akat

Born: Nganjuk, June 25, 1967

Wife: Umi Sujiyah, 48

Children: Mariatul Fitriah, 29; Muhammad Ridwan, 11

Education:

- SMK PGRI 1 Nganjuk (withdrawn)

- SMPN 4 Nganjuk

- SDN 1 Sukorejo, Nganjuk

Occupation:

- Shallot farmer

- Chairman, East Java Shallot Farmers Association (APBMI)

- Chairman, Luru Luhur Farmers Group, Nganjuk

- Chairman, P4S Pangrukti Tani

Awards:

- 2006 National Award for Excellence (Farmers Groups)

- First place, agribusiness development grant management (Farmers Groups)