S. Banten prepares for agribusiness

By I. Christianto

The Jakarta Post, in cooperation with Banten West Java Tourism Development Corporation, is presenting weekly issues on the Banten region. This week's issue is on agriculture and education.

CIKADU, Banten, West Java (JP): What can make people in a rural area more fortunate than improving their skills in environmentally healthy farming practices and other agricultural- related activities?

Some people believe that despite the country's proliferation of industrial factories, agribusiness will continue play a great role.

The community in Cikadu Kampong, Tanjungjaya village, Panimbang regency, Banten, West Java, is lucky enough to have the opportunity to master ecologically and economically sustainable agricultural methods.

A nonprofit organization, the South Bantenese Development Foundation, which is associated with a private firm developing a 1,500-hectare Tanjung Lesung tourist resort in Banten, has convinced hundreds of local farmers that they will be able to survive and have better socioeconomic conditions if they seriously handle their agribusiness.

Through its detailed concept, as well as a integrated training program, the foundation has conducted several activities to encourage the local community to be self-reliant in agribusiness and have a permanent income. To improve their socioeconomic conditions is the foundation's major target.

The foundation's coordinator for agribusiness, Teguh Suprijanto, said that the community agriculture program included natural cultivation production, fertilization processes and market introduction.

He said that agribusiness now relied on modern resources, markets, and other "external" conditions, so the farmers needed to understand many things.

"We use a part of a plot originally designated for resort construction. Due to the economic crisis, the development has been delayed, so we can use the land," he said.

He said the area was utilized to set up a simple fertilizer processing device, vegetable and fruit crops as well as plantations and seeding.

"We are already able to produce a lot of organic fertilizer, and we can sell some to Jakarta. In two months, we sold 12 metric tons," he said.

Teguh said the agribusiness program had set up an organizing group, hopefully comprising hundreds of farmers in the area.

"There is a chairman, a secretary, a treasurer and so on in the group. More farmers are encouraged to participate in this program as they won't loose anything. Instead, they will gain income knowledge and know-how.

"The program is an attempt to introduce and train the farmers about agribusiness. They won't be stuck here. When they feel they already know what kind of commodities they can develop, and understand the market, they are free to establish their own business."

The overall aim, he said, was not to make a one-time effort but to build up long-term capacity for self-help and self- sufficiency among the rural community.

He said local farmers formerly used a very simple traditional way of farming -- slash and burn -- and never used fertilizers, innovative technology or automated devices.

"Without the knowledge of correct cultivation systems, the farmers will grow what they have always grown and know best. In fact, the soil here can accommodate various commodities."

Teguh, experienced in ecotourism and agriculture, said the group had learned how to develop sustainable agriculture and how to process and produce organic fertilizers.

"Society is characterized by extreme variations in living conditions in rural areas. As they are accustomed in planting, cultivating and harvesting rice, they sometimes use fertilizers for growing beans, which is quite new for them, in the same they do for rice. This must be and has been changed," he said.

He said that the program also allowed the farmers to identify potential commodities or products, to comprehend appropriate techniques to make them successfully, efficiently and sustainedly cultivate the land and to fulfill their needs in order to maintain production sustainability.

"The program has been developed further in a workshop using a goal-oriented project planning approach. Participants receive practical instruction and get work experience as well," said Teguh.

The program is aimed at demonstrating the agricultural and economic feasibility of sustainable agriculture, its social benefits and its ability to strengthen rural communities, with an emphasis on maintaining and restoring soil quality and crop diversity and encouraging continuity and responsibility, he said.

"This know-how should be the product of very close cooperation between the local community and the agents as well as the program, which focuses on the community's needs. We have to realize that some of them lack knowledge, have low levels of motivation, and undeveloped skills," he said.

He said that, furthermore, the program was to be added to by a larger productive farm of fruits and vegetables operated on a commercial basis.

"It is potentially feasible to become a tourist attraction since the location is within a huge tourist resort. Tourists can look around and buy anything they want," he said, adding that in the long term, the program would also receive students from agricultural school to undertake apprenticeships.

According to Teguh, the soil is adequate to grow a variety of produce, including oranges, lettuce, sweet tomatoes, corn, pineapple, papaya, durian and star fruit as well as peanuts, spinach and pumpkin.

The most appropriate measures in agribusiness are those focusing on sustainable increases in production, such as widespread cultivation of higher-quality food crops that produce more stable yields, and application of appropriate agricultural cultivation methods. Therefore, more efficient agricultural extension services are needed to introduce innovative cultivation methods appropriate to the site.

Teguh said that the program would eventually include livestock and fish to extend more assistance to the local community. One of the extension program's tasks was to disseminate practice- oriented know-how which is economically and ecologically sound, he said.

A program participant, Rasta, said that he was enthusiastic about joining the program because he could learn skills, particularly in producing organic fertilizer.

The 48-year-old father of three said that he was satisfied because he now had a permanent income.