Update from Simpang Jernih

Junaidi just got back from doing some project monitoring in Simpang Jernih this week, and as far as I can tell he has nothing but good news to report.  Now that the rains have gone everyone’s applying fertilizer (they had to wait till a little later this year because of so much rain).  The project is now reporting a 65% organic fertilizer rate, which is pretty incredible.

Also, the rain held up a bit of the nursery grafting so the women got busy in their plantations and did 200 side grafts.  

Nursery work is hard and sometimes frustrating—all those little plants, so cute, so ready to drop dead at a moment’s notice—so the women in Pante Kera are taking extra care to replicate the good luck their colleagues in Simpang Jernih have had with a simple daily weeding schedule that keeps moisture down and doesn’t exhaust anyone.

And, of course, the cocoa trees are just beginning to flower so that means it’s monkey season (would you expect less from Pante Kera, which means, basically “the monkeys are on the riverbank”?) and farm families are now stepping up their perimeter patrols.

 This fellow might stay put in the forest if illegal logging didn't drive him farther towards the perimeter . . .

Actually, it’s Grand Central Station in the plantations this time of year, with wild pigs and loose goats nibbling at low branches (first lesson of Aceh propagation: graft higher than a goat’s head).  But Junaidi reports good things: the women are still motivated, thanks in large part to Robert, and they seem to be making lots more decisions independently.  Which is good for the sustainability of the project.  When it ends in 2016 they will hopefully have had enough of a taste of economic self-sufficiency to not only keep their business going but act as the “base” for what we hope will be other groups around the district that JMD can persuade to join the association.

Here’s hoping!

Who says organic cocoa farming isn't sustainable?

Look at these babies!

The June application of the organic pest control/spray fertilizer has paid off for our women cocoa farmers in Simpang Jernih subdistrict; over 25% more flowers stayed on the trees this time, and at the 2^nd week in July he pods were nice, green, and healthy, and there were lots of 'em!

JMD’s secret mission is to have the University test the spray fertilizer and hormone that is purchased so that we can replicate the ingredients right on site—this way, the women have a much better opportunity to always have a supply on hand.  Like the organic fertilizer that the women now can make from ingredients right in the neighborhood, a nearly-free and plentiful supply of pest-be-gone will increase production significantly.

Plus (and this is where JMD really stands out): this is an activity that is sustainable.  The women will be doing this long after the agriculture extensionists and JMD’s support have left.   

(that is, if we can keep the palm oil conglomerates from destroying the protected forest.)

Harvest starts in September: stay tuned!!!

31 cocoa farmers and growing!

As of the first of the month, Aceh Timur’s cocoa association has grown to 31 members in 2 villages.  To reach the project’s 2016 goal, only 3 more farmers need to join.  I predict that the hard work and good results these women are getting will bring many more than 3 farmers in from the two villages to join this intrepid bunch. 

 spraying to keep the flowers on the tree and keep the bugs off

The cocoa is flowering now, and so the women are doing two things; spraying the flowers, which has really helped those little guys stay on the trees longer, and building cocoa seedling nurseries to replace old and unproductive trees and to increase the number of trees per hectare (about 2.4 acres) to its optimum 800.  There are two nurseries going up in Pante Kera and one in Simpang Jernih, which had a nursery but let it go in about 2010.  I’m not going to lie and say I was happy about that.  Part of this newest phase of assistance is a lot of group discussion about whether the women want to continue this business after JMD—and all other assistanc—leaves.  If they don’t, then that’s their choice, but as they say in farming, you reap what you sow.  Anyway, the farmers in Simpang Jernih had a change of heart and are madly scrambling to construct this nursery with their own materials—JMD is not paying for anything.  We’ve promised to help them with the purchase of seedlings if they reconstruct the nursery—and they are responding like longshoremen.

 

putting up the poles that the netting will rest on

If you look closely you'll see that Marta is not looking too thrilled.  When asked what was wrong, she said, "This is my happy face!"  So consider this the way Simpang Jernih women smile. :)

 

Taking a rest in Pante Kera

Pante Kera across the river has never had any shortage of incentive.  Possibly because this little community has never received any type of assistance at all from any organization or government entity.  These days, however, the unified organization has attracted the attention of the ministry of forestry, which has dropped off several type of seeds for the farmers in both villages, and JMD has worked with them to plant some of the seeds in between the cocoa trees.

 

Intercropping in Simpang Jernih cocoa field

The women are loving this.  For one, the cocoa trees give a little shade to the crop seeds.  Also, there are fewer weeds.  Each plant provides nutrients to the other, especially after a harvest.  And since the farmers are spending more time in the field now—and they have a reason to, since their gardens are in the fields and not close to their houses—the monkeys have taken a hike.  So there are many more cocoa pods that make to the next stage of development.

This is such a labor-intensive business, though—and one that does not produce immediate results.  So hard for the farmers to devote so much time to something that does not give them a much-needed immediate return.  I do home this next harvest is something to crow about.

In the meantime, make way for 6,500 little seedlings in 3 nurseries on the border of the vast, fragile, and disappearing rainforest these women call their home.

 

There is is, right out the back door; the Leuser Ecosystem sweeps up into the hills

We interrupt this election coverage to talk about REALLY important stuff: cocoa farming!

JMD staff just finished a busy month in Aceh Timur, overseeing the construction of an equipment warehouse for cocoa farmers in Pante Kera (which means “riverbank full of monkeys” in case you were wondering) and making deliveries of specialty fertilizer and growth hormone to assist farms with old and neglected trees.  JMD is working with farmers on their second nursery, which will create a superior and disease resistant strain of cocoa tree, but they take 3 years to mature and in the meantime, old trees that were neglected during the conflict need a “boost” to get them healthy for the next harvest.

Here is the equipment warehouse for the farmers in Pante Kera.  Robert and the carpenter did this in a week, and it is the nicest and sturdiest-looking building I have seen in a long time.  Although JMD’s goat and poultry barns in Pidie were a sight to behold also.  This structure was funded by Embassy of Finland’s Local Cooperation Fund team, who have been nothing but wonderful and supportive of this project.

We spent a lot of time discussing the benefits of this “magic potion:” an organic compound/growth hormone that a farmer applies once to a mature tree to give it some fast-acting immune-suppressant properties that will allow it to resist many of the diseases that currently plague all cocoa farms.   Unfortunately, its ingredients are secret, or JMD would be able to replicate it.  It’s the hope of the project that the new trees that are added to the plantations will have grown up healthy and able to withstand many of the diseases that attacked these current trees before they received help.  Remember, Pante Kera farmers have never received any outside assistance from anyone—local, national or international—so many of these trainings and treatments are being implemented for the first time.  Nowhere to go but up!

The “starter” fertilizer gets divided and half is sent across the river from Simpang Jernih via the usual “barge;” note the Partai Aceh flags on the rails.  Even transportation is political here . . . .

Next: two cocoa farming communities begin to map out how to work together for everyone’s benefit

JMD's Field Officer heads back to Aceh Timur

After several days of administrative and office work with JMD's Banda Aceh staff, Field Officer Robert is back in Aceh Timur for three weeks of providing intensive training, materials delivery, storage barn-building, fording rivers and schlepping organic cocoa growth hormone (that we are trying to find the recipe for so we can make it ourselves).

He’ll be busy from dawn till midnight, but as the photos he sends us show, he loves his work and is happy as a mollusk when he’s in the field.





Robert used to be a shy photographer but over the past year he has developed an amazing eye and documents all the progress in Aceh Timur better than anyone else could—you can tell by the expression on the faces of the farmers and the kids—they all like and trust him.

This training will be really important because JMD is trying to get this group of women interested in being a semi-formal association, and develop rules and recordkeeping and agreements regarding how cocoa will be graded, stored, and sold.  This is an enormous undertaking in Aceh, for a number of reasons. 

Rural communities like those in Aceh Timur have extremely low literacy rates due to the internal conflict having disrupted education for 30 years.  Even though JMD now assists the Dinas (department) of education help people get their high school equivalency diplomas, graduation rates for women remain very low.  And recordkeeping, measuring, and business management skills are crucial when you’re starting any business. 

The other roadblock is the international donor community’s reliance on the co-operative system in developing countries. The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) “has worked over the last 117 years to expand the presence and awareness of cooperatives around the world. . . .  The seven ICA Cooperative Principles [including democracy, autonomy, equal access, voluntary and open membership, group decision making and planning, community/local government involvement] have provided one of the main methods for ensuring consistency in the movement, and have had wide uptake throughout the world.”

Unfortunately, co-operatives in Aceh do not necessarily adhere to these seven principles.  In remote and extremely poor areas, members do not have the time or resources needed to be involved in anything other than their farm labor, and so the business of administering the co-op, making decisions, etc. usually is given to a non-farmer third party.

Most donors, private business foundations or certifying bodies, however, will not work with farmer groups unless they are part of a co-operative.  One of the reasons is economy of scale—a co-operative can be comprised of 1,000-2,000 members, and this makes financial or technical assistance viable for a donor.  The problem is that very few farmers like or trust the co-operative model.  They will hold their noses and join if they have to (and many do), but few co-operatives in Aceh are farmer-run and farmer-centric.  They operate like small, for-profit finance institutions that retain control over capital, seeds, training, equipment, and the market.  Cocoa farming, like coffee farming, is a seasonal enterprise, and farmers often need capital to tide them over until the next harvest, or else they need seeds or machinery that at certain times of the year they need to take out loans to purchase.  They also need a guaranteed buyer. Co-operatives provide all these services but in a manner that keeps the small or mid-size farmer beholden to the co-op.  Farmer interest and the future of the commodity are of interest to a co-op only insofar as it makes the administration a profit.  JMD has had experiences with co-ops who threatened to withdraw support and “prohibit” their farmers from being part of our project, since it teaches farmers how to get results that previously could only be attained through a co-op.  Knowledge is power.  Since co-ops are not farmer-centric, any skills or knowledge gained by farmers would only serve to weaken the hold that the co-ops had on their only resource: poor farmers needing money, training and equipment.

So, what’s a local NGO to do if it wants a group of women cocoa farmers to succeed?  Go very slowly, for starters.  These women so far have developed their own rules, collected their own dues, and make decisions as a group based on how they see their production and their profits increasing in the future.  This is a very delicate business.  JMD wants this group to be viable, vibrant, and really big, and it is hoping that the women will hang in there long enough to see that happen, which will be well after JMD has stopped providing material and technical support.

There has got to be an alternative to the co-operative model that can exist in rural and remote areas that is helpful to farmers, attractive to donors and certifying bodies like Rainforest Alliance, and comfortable enough for companies like Mars and Nestle to invest in.  We just haven’t quite figured it out yet.  But until then, Aceh recognizes a sort of quasi-co-operative, called an Association, and it’s our aim to strengthen the women cocoa farmers’ association in Aceh Timur as much as we can.  Or else make al the co-ops in Aceh honest and upstanding members of the sustainable agriculture community.

I kill myself sometimes.

Lots going on at the cocoa farms in Aceh Timur this month

Before I start the weekly leap off the sustainability ship and am sucked into the Scylla and Charybdis of well-intentioned foreign aid and economic skullduggery, I must report on the amazing things that JMD has accomplished in the last three weeks.

First, staff took a representative group of 9 women farmers from our villages in Aceh Timur on a study tour of a larger and commercial cocoa farm in bordering Aceh Tamiang, about 2.5 hours to the west.  They had learned about this farm at the November cocoa conference in Banda Aceh, where they asked around for anyone willing to give the women a tour of a successful operation and show them some of the methods they were using for cocoa improvement.  The group had a great trip and the owners and staff of the farm were extremely gracious and helpful.  They saw proper grafting and cloning techniques in progress, the heard how these farmers are integrating organic fertilizer into their regular fertilizer (although not to the degree that JMD would like its farmers to do), and perhaps most important of all, they saw that what they were doing on their farms had the potential to be a very important part of the economic and social growth of their region.  They returned quite energized and confident, and gave mini-talks to the farmers who did not go on the tour, and the following week everyone was busy starting the fertilizing and brush-cutting season, along with a little clone-grafting of their own.

I’m going to post just a few photos here; the rest can be seen on Photobucket (and a link is now conveniently on the right hand column of this page--how about that!!) along with a zillion more that we are still sorting out.  Our library is called JMD_VIDEO. 

the hosts showed farmers how they graded their beans and what to look for

some good grafting and cloning was practiced

rain did not dampen anyone's spirits

the farmers learned different ways of sorting and fermenting

The following week, JMD field staff delivered fertilizer to Simpang Jernih and Pante Kera in the fashion to which we have grown accustomed . . .

Kids were on vacation this week so got to help offload the fertilizer, which they seemed to like a lot

I've said it before and I'll say it again: cocoa farming is not for sissies.  These women are my heroes.