2013年5月30日

in Pelaga 台灣指導峇里島農民種蘆筍 幫助他們增加收入、改善生計 Building pride through an unlikely vegetable

台灣指導種蘆筍 峇里人轉運

  • 2013-05-30 19:08
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  • 新聞速報
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  • 【中央社】
     中華民國國際合作發展基金會農技團技師蘇天集3年前赴印尼峇里島教導當地農民種植蘆筍,幫助他們增加收入、改善生計,重拾身為農民的驕傲。
     「雅加達郵報」(Jakarta Post)今天刊登這個故事。培拉佳村(Pelaga)擁有肥沃土壤及豐沛雨量,不過,當地農民習慣種植樹薯、玉米和咖啡等傳統作物,只能帶給他們每月最多10美元的淨收入。迫於生計,有些農民只好出售田地給別墅業者。
     最近培拉佳村農民售地求生存的情形幾乎消失了,原因就是蘇天集把蘆筍栽種引進當地,讓農民有錢賺。
     蘇天集接受中央社記者訪問時表示,他在評估培拉佳村農作條件、農民收益及市場導向後,決定帶領當地農民種植高附加價值的蘆筍。
     他說,以同樣大小的農地而言,當地農民過去種植樹薯、玉米,每年最多只能掙得100萬印尼盾(約新台幣3053元);改種蘆筍後,1年收成3次,收入增加至1200萬至1500萬印尼盾(約新台幣3萬6000元至4萬6000元)。
     談到改變當地農民耕作的方式,蘇天集說,最困難的地方是要扭轉他們的觀念,當地農民過去都是作物種了就不管,也不在意後續的照顧,他可是長久苦口婆心,才灌輸他們正確的農耕觀念。
     幾年下來,培拉佳村現在已經成為峇里島的高級蘆筍產地,頂級的蘆筍1公斤可以賣到5美元。
     當地農民卡圖特(Ketut)說,他種植的蘆筍都賣到超級市場、餐廳,甚至是雅加達,培拉佳村人如今不再視自己為低下的公民了。
     「耕種是最棒的工作」,卡圖特說,培拉佳村民過去常遠離家鄉去外地工作,不看好務農的前途,如今這裡的村民認為在故鄉耕作是全世界最好的工作;那些離鄉背井的村民現在也陸續返鄉加入耕作行列。
     從沒電、沒水的偏鄉孤軍奮戰到今天的成果,最讓蘇天集欣慰的是,培拉佳村民透過種植蘆筍重建身為農民的驕傲;更讓他感動的是,當地農民都知道這是來自台灣的技術和友誼,當地人講起台灣無不豎起大拇指,感謝台灣的幫助。1020530

Building pride through an unlikely vegetable

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Paper Edition | Page: 21
At work: Farmer Ketut Suriani (right) poses with local children at her farm in Pelaga. Asparagus cultivation, only recently introduced in the village, has changed the life of famers here. At work: Farmer Ketut Suriani (right) poses with local children at her farm in Pelaga. Asparagus cultivation, only recently introduced in the village, has changed the life of famers here.
Resting in the saddle formed by Bali’s central mountain range is the village of Pelaga. Hanging here in the space between heaven and earth are farmlands stretching away and up the slopes of the holy Mount Agung, Mount Batur and the Bedugul hill range. Billowy clouds skirt the mountains; their dark peaks above push up and into the realm of the gods.

It is cool and green here in this temperate zone, with soils enriched by past volcanic eruptions and good rainfall. Pelaga appears as a utopia on first discovery — a place to farm crops and raise healthy children.

However, until recently, local farming families struggled to net as much as US$10 a month from their efforts growing cassava, corn and coffee — all traditional foods sold at local markets. In desperation, some of these subsistence farmers sold off their heritage lands. Villas today dot a tapestry formed of ripening rice yellows, dark green channels of corn and the long chocolate lines of rich soil ready for cultivation.

Added to this tapestry is the soft sage green of a plant that is revolutionizing farming in Pelaga and bringing unexpected wealth to local farmers. Villa land sales have now almost stopped as farmers see a way forward. This newly introduced crop is today ensuring farmers can earn a living wage and rebuilding their pride in farming.

Three years ago, Su Tien Chi from Taiwan’s International Corporation Development Fund (ICDF) arrived in this paradise-in-waiting. An agriculture graduate, Chi saw immediately the potential to expand crop types and modernize local farming. Testing soon proved that asparagus was the ideal crop, offering both year-round harvesting and top-dollar returns to farmers. Within just two short years, Pelaga has become Bali’s center for the valuable and highly saleable asparagus that sells at $5 a kilo for grade-A spears.
Fresh: Baby beans are packed for the market at the cooperative.Fresh: Baby beans are packed for the market at the cooperative.
“It has been a great success and one we would like to see achieved in other parts of Bali. The goal of ICDF is our hope to improve economies,” says Chi via telephone.

Pelaga’s newly developed Mertanadi farmers’ cooperative, founded on the back of asparagus success, is run by a local man, Ketut Sandi. Born into a local farming family, Ketut took off for the bright lights and brighter expectations of Kuta, working in the tourist trade, until he decided the farming life, while tough, might offer a better quality of life.

“I met Mr. Su here in Pelaga and we had this commitment to work together for farmers. We did a year’s research growing broccoli, baby beans, cherry tomatoes and asparagus. Everything grew very well, but the asparagus was perfect and that has become our main crop selling to supermarkets and to restaurants as far away as Jakarta,” says Ketut, stressing that Pelaga farmers no longer see themselves as bottom-rung citizens, but as proud land owners who can save for the future using their newly created income.

“Before the asparagus people were leaving to find work away from the village. There was this feeling that farming was the poorest of all professions because it was hard, dirty work and money was always tight. Now people here see farming can be the best job in the world. Those that left the village are now coming back,” the 32-year-old said.

“We started two years ago with 15 farmers. We now have more than 150 growing asparagus and other high value crops. People are no longer selling off their lands — they know if they do they will feel remorse. They see now a road to a good future. Before they did not understand what they have here,” he added.

Delicious: An employee at the cooperative packs asparagus farmed in the village for shipment to Bali’s supermarkets and restaurants — and to restaurants in Jakarta.Delicious: An employee at the cooperative packs asparagus farmed in the village for shipment to Bali’s supermarkets and restaurants — and to restaurants in Jakarta.Farmer Ibu Ketut Suriani says growing asparagus has changed her life. Gone are the days of worrying over money.

“The result has been very good. Daily I can earn Rp 40,000 (US$4) from my 800 plants. If I had more land I could make far more income. Asparagus can be harvested every day, so we have income every day. From this money I can put aside Rp 10,000 a day, so we are saving money,” the 45-year-old said. “In the past, growing cassava and corn, we only made about Rp 500,000 over four to five months. That was very tough, so we farmers have all benefited very much from what Mr. Su has brought to us.”

Suriani grows broccoli, kale and baby beans, cultivating hedgerows between fields of jackfruit, bananas, papaya and durian.

As a farmer, Suriani also raises chickens, cattle and pigs. “We only need to buy a bit of rice and tempeh and water and power. We grow everything else we need.

“We feel happy every day to see the view of Mount Agung, feel the cool breeze and tend our farms,” she added.

Switching from traditional crops to asparagus that was first grown in Pelaga from root stock imported from California and Taiwan has also changed the life of one of 15 cooperative employees, 32-year-old Kardani. Her husband had long grown cassava, corn and coffee, barely scratching out a living despite many hours of backbreaking toil. Today Kardani’s family is doing well and has a disposable income that gives her greater choice in purchases.

“Life is far better since the asparagus. Mr. Su is a great man for the benefit he has brought our community. In the past we did make ends meet, but only just. We could buy rice, but not much else. These days we can shop for clothes and other things we need, we can buy more so we as a family are more relaxed and happy about the future. I think that’s because we have a better standard of living and we can give that to our kids,” said Kardani.

The cooperative’s goal is to expand asparagus farming across 50 hectares and further increase sales, says co-op head Ketut. Into the future these farmers that have taken a great step forward also hope to export their precious produce, become fully organic farms and share their newfound knowledge with other communities.
Astonishing: Pare, a very rare bitter gourd, is also grown in Pelaga for specialty markets.Astonishing: Pare, a very rare bitter gourd, is also grown in Pelaga for specialty markets.
Mist-skirted mountains: The farmers’ cooperative in Pelaga now has more than 150 farmer members and 15 employees growing and preparing the asparagus that have brought new wealth to local farmers.Mist-skirted mountains: The farmers’ cooperative in Pelaga now has more than 150 farmer members and 15 employees growing and preparing the asparagus that have brought new wealth to local farmers.

— Photos By J.B.Djwan

uilding pride through an unlikely vegetable

A- A A+
Paper Edition | Page: 21
At work: Farmer Ketut Suriani (right) poses with local children at her farm in Pelaga. Asparagus cultivation, only recently introduced in the village, has changed the life of famers here. At work: Farmer Ketut Suriani (right) poses with local children at her farm in Pelaga. Asparagus cultivation, only recently introduced in the village, has changed the life of famers here.
Resting in the saddle formed by Bali’s central mountain range is the village of Pelaga. Hanging here in the space between heaven and earth are farmlands stretching away and up the slopes of the holy Mount Agung, Mount Batur and the Bedugul hill range. Billowy clouds skirt the mountains; their dark peaks above push up and into the realm of the gods.

It is cool and green here in this temperate zone, with soils enriched by past volcanic eruptions and good rainfall. Pelaga appears as a utopia on first discovery — a place to farm crops and raise healthy children.

However, until recently, local farming families struggled to net as much as US$10 a month from their efforts growing cassava, corn and coffee — all traditional foods sold at local markets. In desperation, some of these subsistence farmers sold off their heritage lands. Villas today dot a tapestry formed of ripening rice yellows, dark green channels of corn and the long chocolate lines of rich soil ready for cultivation.

Added to this tapestry is the soft sage green of a plant that is revolutionizing farming in Pelaga and bringing unexpected wealth to local farmers. Villa land sales have now almost stopped as farmers see a way forward. This newly introduced crop is today ensuring farmers can earn a living wage and rebuilding their pride in farming.

Three years ago, Su Tien Chi from Taiwan’s International Corporation Development Fund (ICDF) arrived in this paradise-in-waiting. An agriculture graduate, Chi saw immediately the potential to expand crop types and modernize local farming. Testing soon proved that asparagus was the ideal crop, offering both year-round harvesting and top-dollar returns to farmers. Within just two short years, Pelaga has become Bali’s center for the valuable and highly saleable asparagus that sells at $5 a kilo for grade-A spears.
Fresh: Baby beans are packed for the market at the cooperative.Fresh: Baby beans are packed for the market at the cooperative.
“It has been a great success and one we would like to see achieved in other parts of Bali. The goal of ICDF is our hope to improve economies,” says Chi via telephone.

Pelaga’s newly developed Mertanadi farmers’ cooperative, founded on the back of asparagus success, is run by a local man, Ketut Sandi. Born into a local farming family, Ketut took off for the bright lights and brighter expectations of Kuta, working in the tourist trade, until he decided the farming life, while tough, might offer a better quality of life.

“I met Mr. Su here in Pelaga and we had this commitment to work together for farmers. We did a year’s research growing broccoli, baby beans, cherry tomatoes and asparagus. Everything grew very well, but the asparagus was perfect and that has become our main crop selling to supermarkets and to restaurants as far away as Jakarta,” says Ketut, stressing that Pelaga farmers no longer see themselves as bottom-rung citizens, but as proud land owners who can save for the future using their newly created income.

“Before the asparagus people were leaving to find work away from the village. There was this feeling that farming was the poorest of all professions because it was hard, dirty work and money was always tight. Now people here see farming can be the best job in the world. Those that left the village are now coming back,” the 32-year-old said.

“We started two years ago with 15 farmers. We now have more than 150 growing asparagus and other high value crops. People are no longer selling off their lands — they know if they do they will feel remorse. They see now a road to a good future. Before they did not understand what they have here,” he added.

Delicious: An employee at the cooperative packs asparagus farmed in the village for shipment to Bali’s supermarkets and restaurants — and to restaurants in Jakarta.Delicious: An employee at the cooperative packs asparagus farmed in the village for shipment to Bali’s supermarkets and restaurants — and to restaurants in Jakarta.Farmer Ibu Ketut Suriani says growing asparagus has changed her life. Gone are the days of worrying over money.

“The result has been very good. Daily I can earn Rp 40,000 (US$4) from my 800 plants. If I had more land I could make far more income. Asparagus can be harvested every day, so we have income every day. From this money I can put aside Rp 10,000 a day, so we are saving money,” the 45-year-old said. “In the past, growing cassava and corn, we only made about Rp 500,000 over four to five months. That was very tough, so we farmers have all benefited very much from what Mr. Su has brought to us.”

Suriani grows broccoli, kale and baby beans, cultivating hedgerows between fields of jackfruit, bananas, papaya and durian.

As a farmer, Suriani also raises chickens, cattle and pigs. “We only need to buy a bit of rice and tempeh and water and power. We grow everything else we need.

“We feel happy every day to see the view of Mount Agung, feel the cool breeze and tend our farms,” she added.

Switching from traditional crops to asparagus that was first grown in Pelaga from root stock imported from California and Taiwan has also changed the life of one of 15 cooperative employees, 32-year-old Kardani. Her husband had long grown cassava, corn and coffee, barely scratching out a living despite many hours of backbreaking toil. Today Kardani’s family is doing well and has a disposable income that gives her greater choice in purchases.

“Life is far better since the asparagus. Mr. Su is a great man for the benefit he has brought our community. In the past we did make ends meet, but only just. We could buy rice, but not much else. These days we can shop for clothes and other things we need, we can buy more so we as a family are more relaxed and happy about the future. I think that’s because we have a better standard of living and we can give that to our kids,” said Kardani.

The cooperative’s goal is to expand asparagus farming across 50 hectares and further increase sales, says co-op head Ketut. Into the future these farmers that have taken a great step forward also hope to export their precious produce, become fully organic farms and share their newfound knowledge with other communities.
Astonishing: Pare, a very rare bitter gourd, is also grown in Pelaga for specialty markets.Astonishing: Pare, a very rare bitter gourd, is also grown in Pelaga for specialty markets.
Mist-skirted mountains: The farmers’ cooperative in Pelaga now has more than 150 farmer members and 15 employees growing and preparing the asparagus that have brought new wealth to local farmers.Mist-skirted mountains: The farmers’ cooperative in Pelaga now has more than 150 farmer members and 15 employees growing and preparing the asparagus that have brought new wealth to local farmers.

— Photos By J.B.Djwan

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/05/30/building-pride-through-unlikely-vegetable.html

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