Dare to Make Changes
Getting the best production results is every farmer's dream, including Welem, an irrigated rice farmer. Welem, who has been working as a farmer for decades, has the principle that farming is the same as going to school, where he must keep learning to grow plants properly.
However, he does not deny that some farmers, including himself, still have bad habits when cultivating the field. For example, hastily planting the rice seeds to be done immediately without waiting for the decomposition process in the soil to be planted with rice. Welem and several other farmers still experience a lack of knowledge about seeding.
They still often apply fertilization without spraying pesticides to prevent insect pests and diseases, as well as fertilization that is not on time and rarely pays attention to the composition of fertilizer content which results in the understanding of farmers in the stage of mixing several drugs for rice plants seems trivial.
Therefore, his involvement in the socialization of GAP Padi Intani 602 with PT. BISI and the Mata Air Village Government, which were facilitated by the Moringa project of Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI) with the support of Australian Aid, motivated Welem to cultivate correctly and adequately.
Welem explained that he was more motivated by one of the quotes by the facilitator during the socialization, which says, "If we want our rice plants to give the best results for us, then we also have an obligation to provide what is best for the rice plants planted".
Since then, Welem began to make changes to take care of his farm.
Welem also immediately agreed when offered to provide rice fields that would be used as the location for the demonstration plot on Intani 602 because it would add new knowledge for him.
Even though Welem has not been able to fully mix different forms of drugs into the spray tank, Welem has successfully applied soil management, seeding, fertilizing, and spraying according to the specified time interval and the appropriate stages of the process.
Through this socialization and demonstration plot, Welem and other farmers could be introduced to a unique package of stimulants for the formation of each rice panicle to be more optimal. Hopefully, the learning outcomes of this demonstration plot can really influence other farmers to start changing.
Written by: Matheos Dima, External Consultant for Moringa Project Wahana Visi Indonesia Translated by: Klaudia Mawuntu, Intern Wahana Visi Indonesia
