How the ACB, through the Small Grants Programme, capacitated farmers in the buffer zone of Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia to gradually shift into using organic fertilisers for their crops.
Steering farmers away from costly chemical fertilisers that damage soil quality and harm the environment, the Yayasan Sumatera Hijau Lestari (YSHL) organised 50 people from the Lau Damak and Batu JongJong Villages into farming groups that use organic farming methods.
Under an SGP grant, YSHL trained farmers on how they can use their house yards to plant organic cayenne pepper, long beans, eggplant, tomatoes, gambas, mustard greens, kangkung, and cucumber. They taught themhow to make liquid organic fertiliser (LOF) with household organic waste using the bucket stack method. They also trained them to calculate the costs incurred in one planting period by using chemical instead of organic fertilisers, enabling the community to understand that using LOF saves them money while protecting the environment.
The farmers also received 20,000 cacao and sugar palm seeds sown across 5.59 hectares of productive land.
A related activity is counselling on the establishment of agricultural product marketing cooperatives to gain skills and know-how in harvesting produce and its derivative products while they wait to harvest their cacao and sugar palm.
“Before we met YSHL, we used chemical fertiliser and the rice didn’t grow well. I’ve always wondered why the rice didn’t grow well even after I’ve used enough fertiliser. Maybe the chemicals damaged the soil and made it worse over time. With YSHL’s recommendation, we started making and using LOF. We found out that it doesn’t destroy the land. In fact, we noticed that the soil is loose and that there are lots of animals like worms in the soil. So now, we only use chemicals to supplement. LOF helps. The vegetables are more delicious if you use LOF,” says Supriyono, one of the farmers in the buffer zone of the Gunung Leuser National Park in Langkat Regency.
The SGP intervention has increased the capacity of farmers in terms of knowledge, skills, and awareness in organic farming management— something that they can implement and pass on to their families, neighbours, and fellow farmers.
