This all is for Children's Education
Arkelius Piro or who is familiarly called Piro is a corn farmer with a disability in his legs. He has experienced this condition for 20 years. However, the 47-year-old man continues to be enthusiastic about working as a farmer. All of this was done by Piro and his wife, Marianti, to pay for their children's education.
Piro is a farmer assisted by Wahana Visi Indonesia through the Moringa project in Central Sulawesi. His work as a farmer was initially carried out by cultivating rice fields with an area of 0.9 hectares. With a capital of Rp. 3 million, Piro admits that rice farming does not provide big profits.
Piro began to rack his brain to increase his family's income. After discussing with some corn farmers around his neighborhood and being convinced, Piro decided to try planting corn in his rice fields that were not well irrigated.
"I have seen that recently the price of corn is quite high and as said by other farmers, including Mr. Selmus, that corn is much easier to care for than rice," he explained.
At the suggestion of Selmus, the field assistant for the Moringa project, Piro started planting the NK Sumo maize seeds recommended by the Moringa project. Thanks to these seeds, Piro was able to get a harvest of 300 kg which was sold for IDR 4,700.
Thanks to the harvest experience, he was challenged to be more serious in working on corn farming. He proved his seriousness by cutting down unproductive cocoa land and replacing it with corn so that the area planted in the 2nd planting season was around 0.2 hectares with 4 kg of NK Sumo seeds planted. The results obtained from 4 kg of seeds are 1,275 kg for IDR 4,600/kg.
He added that the increase in his income from corn farming hugely impacted his family income. In addition to being able to meet daily needs, he can also always be on time to pay for his children's school fees, which previously were often late due to mediocre rice farming results. Piro hopes to continue to get assistance in corn farming as well as the latest information regarding seeds and new corn cultivation techniques, to get maximum yields.
Written by: Moringa Project Officer, Wahana Visi Indonesia
