The women work together to distribute fertilizer as another cocoa cultivation season begins

Last week the women  cocoa farmers finished their fifth training in the series funded by the Embassy of Finland. (Yay, Finland!)  Robert has taken some amazing photos of the bud and stem grafting practicums, which I’ll post as soon as we receive them.

Before the training, however, Santa came early to Simpang Jernih and Pante Kera, in the form of pre-made organic fertilizer and a growth/pest-control hormone that we are trying like mad to analyze to see how we can make it ourselves.  The contents are a more heavily guarded secret than Kentucky Fried Chicken.  But a trip to the university lab might be able to crack it.  We’ll see. The object of the project, after all, is to provide the women with the information necessary to make all their fertilizer and pest control products at home, from things pretty much lying around the house or farm or, in rare cases, easily purchased at a local shop.

First thing the women had to do when the fertilizer arrived at Simpang Jernih was to load half of it on the trusty river raft (rebuilt and safely re-tethered to its iron cable after the rainstorms and flooding of last month) for the trip to Pante Kera (and our new 4-farmer village of Batu Sumbang—woo-hoo!).

At the home of one of the cocoa farmers in Pante Kera, Robert distributed the liquid fertilizer/hormone to the group.

Here’s the association’s warehouse, complete with nifty sign indicating their name (Pilar Tani) and location.  The elected Chair of the association is making sure that each woman gets the right amount of fertilizer.  Few women in Aceh want to draw attention to themselves by acting and being seen as leaders, but this association is an exception, and JMD is working with the more outspoken and confident members to encourage other women to share in association decisions and act as peer trainers.

 

Of course, when it rains it pours and when it doesn't it's dry as a bone, so the application of fertilizer is going to have to wait a bit until the area gets a bit more rain.  No wonder the world is experiencing a cocoa shortage-- it's the toughest job around!

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