Vegetable gardens float in Yoboi village
Vegetable gardens float in Yoboi village
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Don't be discouraged, even if your garden is a swamp -- literally -- you can still grow vegetables.
Floating vegetable gardens are not an unusual sight for the women of Yoboi village, Sentani, which is located in the coastal area of Lake Sentani, Papua's largest lake. The area is 80,188 hectares in total, including 9,285 hectares of water.
Old boats are filled with soil and vegetables are grown in them, a practice that has been going on for years.
Yoboi village is accessible only by boat, as it is located by the side of the lake, swampy land where many sago trees grow.
If you take a Johnson boat from Yahim harbor, paying Rp 1,000 for the trip, you will get there in around 15 minutes.
Yahim harbor is about two kilometers from Sentani, a town about 45 kilometers away from Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.
Yoboi village is located to the east of Yobe and Ifale, two neighboring villages with church buildings that look imposing from afar.
One bright morning, The Jakarta Post, accompanied by Herlina Tokoro, a staff member of the Jayapura Development Planning Board, who is a native of Yoboi, and Udin, who is an employee of the Sentani administration, took a boat tour around Lake Sentani to observe the floating vegetable gardens.
"It's nice weather. The lake is calm so we can sit comfortably in our boat," said Herlina, who obtained her masters degree from Hasanuddin University in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
Several bulbul flew low close to the surface of the lake. Fish went by, as well as boats transporting busy fishermen and manned by some playful local children.
Close to Yoboi village, we could clearly see green plots of vegetables.
When we got to the wooden bridge -- the only way of moving around the floating village, other than on water -- we could see that some of the vegetables were ready for harvest, while, in other areas, seeds had just been sown.
Most of the vegetable gardens are directly in front of the locals' simple houses. The walls are generally made of sago stems and midribs. The roofs of some houses are made of sago palm, while other roofs are made of sheets of corrugated iron.
The plants -- mustard greens, water spinach, spinach, tomatoes, chili peppers and papaya -- are grown in garden boxes made of sago stems and midribs.
About four or five stems and midribs are arranged to form a square or rectangle and then soil and natural fertilizer is laid down. A few garden beds, however, are contained by boards.
"When we use sago stems and midribs we can easily collect them from the sago trees around our village. If we use boards, we have to buy them," said Ibu Selvi Puraro.
At first, only one or two families grew vegetables. Later, in 1990, when Ibu Bas Suebu was chairperson of the family welfare motivation team for Papua province, floating vegetable planting became the activity of all rural women.
"The family welfare program manages dozens of projects and one of them is a gardening project. We do not have yards in Yoboi village. So, Ibu Suebu got the idea of introducing and developing floating vegetable gardens," said Chris Tokoro, chief of Sentani district.
In 2002, thanks to its floating vegetable garden, Yoboi village won first prize in a contest for family welfare activities in Jayapura.
The vegetables from Yoboi village are free from pests and are grown with organic fertilizer.
"Although scientific research is yet to be done on sago mulch, the villagers are convinced it contains a substance that kills pests. They also believe that dried algae and water hyacinth can be used as fertilizer for their plants. When the Post arrived at the village, a group of women were busy collecting algae from the lake, precisely from under the floating gardens.
"We dry this algae and then mix it with soil and sago mulch in the beds. After a few days, we can begin to grow vegetable plants there," said Ibu Terina Sokoy.
Yoboi villagers do not sell their vegetables, but growing them means a savings of Rp 10,000 to Rp 15,000 a day. "We don't need to buy vegetables from the market," said Agus Waly, chief of the local neighborhood community.
About 250 people, or 47 families, live in Yoboi village and most earn their livings as fishermen. In general, life in this village is just like life in any other coastal village.
When you are there, besides the floating vegetable gardens, you may also be interested in the church. It is the largest building in the village.
The walls of the church are made of wood that is made to look like red bricks. The floor is made of planks, while the roof is made of iron sheets.
The lake is very important to the villagers. They bathe and wash their clothes there. They also use it as a toilet, and a source of clean water.
In the past, locals collected water from the center of the lake. However, when research suggested the water contained e-coli bacteria -- the cause of diarrhea -- the Jayapura administration provided the villagers with four water pumps to fulfill their need for clean water.
The regental administration has also provided the village with a power generator, so that the villagers can enjoy electricity.
Thanks to the power generator, locals can now watch TV and listen to the radio. "Locals usually gather in front of their houses to watch the news or a live broadcast of a soccer match," said Toni Wally.
The children of the village are not afraid of water. They learn how to swim at a very young age. "Water is their playground; that's why virtually every child can swim," said Herlina.
Now efforts are being made to increase the productivity of the floating vegetable gardens, to raise the income of the locals.
"We are planning to sell the vegetables to supermarkets. In that way, floating gardening will become a source of income for them. Very soon, Yoboi village will be a major vegetable supplier," said Chris Tokoro, hopefully.