Affected by the Earthquake, Farmer Optimistic to open Corn Land

The earthquake that hit Palu City and its surroundings in 2018 made rice farmer fields unusable. One of the reasons is because the irrigation canal, the main source of irrigation for rice farmers is damaged. As a result, almost all farmers lost their main income, including Fikran, a farmer from Sidondo 1 Village.

This incident forced Fikran to look for other sources of income to meet the needs of his family. The socialization that Fikran had participated in on corn farming by the Department of Agriculture in 2017 became an idea for him to open a corn farm. For him, planting corn by relying on aid seeds and local seeds is enough instead of using quality seeds from shops that have to spend a lot of money.

Even though the income he gets from the corn harvest is only enough to meet his family’s daily needs, he does not give up. Until 2019, Fikran participated in the dissemination about corn farming held by Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI) and PT Syngenta.

In the dissemination, Fikran was taught about correct corn cultivation techniques and business analysis in corn farming.

“I was surprised when I calculated the expenditure for corn farming capital and the benefits that would be obtained if I applied the correct cultivation techniques,” he said.

Armed with an understanding of cultivation techniques provided by WVI together with PT Syngenta, Fikran slowly began to change the way of planting and caring for corn on his farm. As a result, after implementing it, now Fikran can buy a motorbike and has four lands for corn farming.

Fikran hopes that he and the corn farmers in Sidondo 1 Village will continue to receive assistance from WVI and continue to receive information regarding other quality corn seeds to be planted in this village.

“I see quite a big change happening to the corn farmers in this village during Wahana Visi Indonesia’s mentoring. One of them is I no longer have trouble getting quality corn seeds. I am very grateful to Wahana Visi Indonesia for changing my understanding of corn farming, which impacts my family’s economy,” he admitted.

Written by: Staff of Moringa Project of Wahana Visi Indonesia
Translated by: Klaudia Mawuntu, Intern Wahana Visi Indonesia