Javanese farmers reap profits planting vegetables in Batam industrial zone<\/p>\n
Fadli, Batam<\/p>\n
Mardi, 35, and his wife Sutiyem, 28, from Banjarnegara regency,
\nCentral Java province, arrived four years ago on Batam in search
\nof work in the special industrial zone island.<\/p>\n
They were not seeking jobs in electronic goods assembling
\nplants as many other Javanese do, but to grow vegetables for
\nhousehold consumption.<\/p>\n
Mardi knew beforehand that the land in Batam was not so good
\nfor farming, but he still wanted to give it a go because he had
\nseen that his fellow farmers from Banjarnegara had been
\nsuccessful on Batam and he wished to follow suit.<\/p>\n
Shortly after arriving, he bought a half hectare plot of land
\n-- from a local resident who did not have an ownership
\ncertificate -- for Rp 2 million (just over US$200 at the time).
\nThe plot is located in Tanjung Riau subdistrict, Sekupang
\ndistrict, where he has grown various kinds of vegetables with his
\nwife for nearly four years.<\/p>\n
\"My main reason here was to farm. I knew about it from my
\nhometown friends who came here earlier. After I developed the
\nskills to farm and market the crops, I moved the rest of my
\nfamily here,\" Mardi told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He uses an intercrop method -- growing a row of vegetables
\nalternating with a row of cayenne pepper or long beans
\noverlapping with gambas, a kind of tuber.<\/p>\n
He uses water from a pond not far from his farm for watering
\nhis crops. The pond, equipped with a water pump, is used by
\nseveral other farmers as well.<\/p>\n
\"Nearly all farmers in the Simpang Base Camp area -- around
\n100 of them -- come from Banjarnegara. We all know each other,\"
\nMardi said.<\/p>\n
The quality of soil is not favorable, with a high bauxite
\nlevel, often hard and brownish in color. He has to mix in copious
\nquantities of manure and loamy soil for his vegetables to grow.<\/p>\n
\"We continually use fertilizer on the crops for better
\nharvests,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Every day his routine varies because each crop has to be
\nharvested in a staggered process. Long beans take about three
\nweeks to harvest. He has planned it in such a way that he can
\nreap the beans once every three days.<\/p>\n
He uses about a fourth of a 130 kg sack of fertilizer, which
\ncosts Rp 115,000, in each three-week period, while a kilogram of
\nlong beans sells for Rp 2,500. He can yield 50 kg of long beans
\nin a single harvest period. \"Vegetable sellers from the
\ntraditional market buy directly from us to get the best price and
\nthe freshest beans,\" Mardi said.<\/p>\n
The price of vegetables on Batam is three times higher
\ncompared to other areas in Sumatra, so it attracts people like
\nhim to farming on Batam.<\/p>\n
Mardi leaves marketing matters to Sutiyem, who does most of
\nthe harvesting as well as weighing and packaging the vegetables.
\nFrom their thriving little farming enterprise, Mardi and Sutiyem
\nwere able to buy a simple house in their hometown as well as pay
\nthe school fees to send their two children to elementary school.<\/p>\n
When asked if he was worried about a lack of an ownership
\ncertificate for his farm, he said that he would just leave it to
\nfate if a time came when the authorities, such as the Batam
\nAuthority Board or the Batam municipality, decided they wanted to
\nreclaim it.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/javanese-farmers-reap-profits-planting-vegetables-in-batam-industrial-zone-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}