The Story of Wasis: How A Tree Grower is Making a Difference in Water Conservation

Wasis, The Spring Warrior from Kalirejo Village
Photo: Trees4Trees/Yulianisa Dessenita

Wasis had never thought before that his decision to join the tree planting program initiated by Trees4Trees and Tree Ltd three years ago would be a blessing for many people around him. At the time, Wasis decided to join the tree planting program solely to expand his coffee field’s productivity. However, the trees he has grown not only provide him with a good result but also help preserve the water spring that provides clean water for his fellow villagers 

Wasis lives by himself in a hut not far from his field in Kalirejo Village, Kebumen Regency. There is a water spring established in his field and he is grateful for having it. Although it is little, the water spring is the only clean water source for his daily needs. He also believes the water spring is the key to his fertile field that never runs dry.

Water spring in Wasis’ field produce more clean water after he planted many coffee trees. Photo: Trees4Trees/Yulianisa Dessenita

Growing Coffee is Wasis’ Specialty 

Before returning to his home village eight years ago, Wasis had worked in coffee plantations in Sumatera for more than twenty years. Therefore, growing coffee has been his specialty for years. One day, he decided to come home and brought a few coffee seedlings to be planted in his own field. Although his field is not wide, he has managed it persistently since the beginning.  

Formerly, Wasis planted some timbers, a few coffee trees, and cassava in his field. Unfortunately, cassava did not grow well in his field. Then in 2019, when Wasis received around 200 Robusta coffee seedlings from the tree planting program conducted by Trees4Trees and Tree Ltd, soon, he replaced all cassava planted in his field with Robusta coffee trees he received.  

Harvesting Coffee, Making a Good Income  

After three years growing coffees, a few months ago finally he harvested them for the first time. Deciding to replace cassava with coffee trees was the best decision he ever made. “I got seven kilograms of Robusta coffee beans, and I sold them at Rp27.000 per kilogram,” he said proudly.   

Besides Robusta, Wasis also planted Arabica and Liberica coffee which he brought the seedlings from a plantation where he worked once. Wasis said the selling price of Liberica is higher than the other. “Liberica can reach Rp30.000 per kilogram,” he said.  

To make his coffee trees lush and fruitful, Wasis makes organic fertilizer from cow dung by himself. He believes that the organic fertilizer he applied causes his coffee trees to grow well and fruitful. “I get the cow dung from my neighbors who raise cows. I prefer cow dung better than goat dung because it makes my trees lusher,” he said.  

Coffee beans in Wasis’ field. Photo: Trees4Trees/V. Arnila Wulandani

Planting Trees, Preserving the Water Spring, Helping Local Residents

Wasis has been more than just proud of himself because the coffee trees he planted also made the water spring in his field produces more water than before. According to Wasis, now the spring not only can fulfill his clean water daily need but also other villagers’.  

“Around ten families in a neighboring village not far from here have been lacking clean water,” Wasis revealed. According to him, the local people have tried to dig wells but there was no water coming out. It has been very struggle for them to get clean water for a long time. When they heard the water spring in Wasis’ field has produced more water than before, they asked him permission to take water from there.  

“Water is the most essential thing in life, and they have had a hard time getting it for a long time. I cannot bear not to help them, so I allowed them to take water as much as they need from the spring in my field,” Wasis said.  

The Trees He Grows Bring Fortune 

Wasis said every neighbor who takes water from the spring, then they barter it with food crop yields or other essential things as a thank you.  

“They often barter it with rice grain in return. Usually, I get 50 kilograms of rice grains as a thank you,” Wasis told us. Some people also barter the water with vegetables or other food crops, making him does not need to buy groceries for his daily food. “The water is not only bartered with food. Sometimes, when I need cow dung to make organic fertilizer, they are willing to barter it with water,” he added.  

Wasis said he is so grateful because the spring can help many people and bring such fortune for him. “This spring is getting better because of trees from Trees4Trees and Tree Ltd that I have grown,” he said.  

Now, his biggest hope is to grow more and more trees, especially coffee trees. He wants to get good results to increase his income as well as to preserve the water spring that many people rely on to get clean water.  

 

Encouraging Organic Farming Through Training of the Trainer 

Encouraging Organic Farming Through Training of the Trainer_1
Encouraging Organic Farming Through Training of the Trainer_1
Training participants learnt organic farming materials during the training session. Photo: Trees4Trees/Yulianisa Dessenita

Encouraging the planting season begins, Trees4Trees holds a Training of the Trainer (TOT). It is part of a series of tree planting programs. This year, Trees4Trees held the training from October 10 to 26, 2022 in all sites. The training itself aims to provide field coordinators with practical knowledge related to tree-planting. 

Through the training session, Trees4Trees’ training team train all field coordinators to mastering various materials related to organic farming. They are including planting patterns, fertilization, and planting techniques. After the training is completed, field coordinators then will transfer the knowledge to the farmers who are involved in the planting program with Trees4Trees. The training for farmers is conducted during the planting socialization stage, just after Trees4Trees distributes tree seedlings to farmers. 

Tailored to the needs of farmers 

The field coordinator will deliver the materials  to farmers in each village. They will provide material through training according to the materials requested by the farmers. 

“When it comes to the initial stage of the program, field coordinators have asked the farmers about what kind of training they would like to get. Once we know what kind of training they want to improve, we structure the training materials into tutorials. So, the training we provide basically will be tailored to the needs of farmers,” said Tedi Purnama, Trees4Trees Training Officer who was also a trainer of TOT training. 

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Tomi Bustomi, Trees4Trees West Java Regional Manager also said that one of the advantages of the Trees4Trees’ tree planting program is that it involves local farmers in planting trees and always considers the needs of farmers. 

“We always listen to the needs of the farmers. Not only for trees we distribute, but also training we provide. Our programs always tailor to the needs of farmers. Therefore, what we provide will bring real benefits to them,” Tomi added.

Encouraging using organic waste and other organic materials that are easy to find 

This year Trees4Trees delivers seven training materials through TOT. One of them is mandatory material. It is a timber and multipurpose tree species planting pattern. The other materials include how to make organic liquid fertilizers, organic congested fertilizers, organic pesticides, seedlings propagation techniques, and fruit cultivation techniques. Trees4Trees dedicates the training in fruit cultivation to farmers who are willing to increase their fruit production on a business scale.  

According to Tedi, before he delivers the material to the trainee, all materials have been tested first. “We made the simulation first to know the efficiency. Including the ingredients and cost estimation. We make sure that the ingredients and materials we use as references are the easiest, cheapest, and most efficient materials. We designed it in such a way that farmers can easily produce by themselves,” said Tedi. 

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For example, to make organic fertilizers, field coordinators were trained to use organic waste and other organic materials that are cheap and easy to find, such as eggs, expired milk, rotten fruits, moss, and animal dung.   

Encourage farmers to do organic farming 

Through this training, it is expected that field coordinators are able to understand all training materials. Afterwards they can deliver the training materials to farmers as well as reinforce and encouraging them to do organic farming. 

“The purpose of TOT is to provide another perspective on cultivation patterns to farmers in 180 villages in Central Java and West Java as our partners. In West Java especially, most farmers still use chemicals in agriculture. Trees4Trees wants to encouraging all farmers to cultivate plants with organic farming techniques that are environmentally friendly. And the field coordinator will be the first who provides information and answers when farmers ask questions about how to implement an organic farming,” said Tedi. 

Writer: V. Arnila Wulandani

Fairventures Worldwide Visited Trees4Trees for a Comparative Study 

fairventures worldwide visited trees4trees nursery in pati central java for reforestation comparative study in pati central java

fairventures worldwide visited trees4trees for reforestation comparative study in pati central java

A few weeks ago, Trees4Trees was visited by Fairventures Worldwide, a non-profit organization that is also focused on reforestation and environmental restoration activities. The visit was carried out in Pati Central Java and aimed to conduct a comparative study from the Trees4Tres reforestation program.  

Learning Agroforestry Through Comparative Study

The purpose of the comparative study especially was to learn about the cultivation of sengon trees (Paraserianthes falcataria), community empowerment and mentoring techniques of the tree planting program, collaboration with off-takers and factories, also agroforestry systems developed by Trees4Trees and farmers as well as the marketing strategies. 

fairventures worldwide visited trees4trees nursery in pati central java for reforestation comparative study in pati central java

During the three-day visit, the team had the opportunity to visit Pati nursery to see how tree seedlings were grown and treated until they were ready to be distributed to farmers and planted. 

Through the discussion sessions, Trees4Trees shared stories, experiences, and efforts in environmental restoration as well as education, involvement, and empowerment of local farmers in planting trees.  

The team also visited the farmers’ field and observe the agroforestry patterns that have been applied to the farmers’ field. One of the patterns shown was by combining sengon trees, fruit, and coffee plants in one area. Sengon trees and fruits act as shades for the coffee plants. 

fairventures worldwide visited trees4trees for reforestation comparative study in pati central java

“We have a lot of things to learn from this visit and we thank Trees4Trees for the opportunity. From this trip, we can take new things that have not yet been applied in Central Kalimantan. We will bring the new knowledge and experiences that we already got from Trees4Trees to be implemented with our farmers and our staff in Central Kalimantan,” said Raya, Fairventures Worldwide Country Manager of Indonesia.  

Sharing Knowledge for Greener Earth

This comparative study also not only aims to share knowledge and experience to achieve the same goal of making the environment healthier but also marks that the two organizations support each other for environmental restoration through planting trees.  

“We hope this comparative study can be a good reference to the program run by Fairventures Worldwide in Central Kalimantan. Hopefully, the reforestation we have conducted not only provides a great impact on the environment and local communities but also brings more benefits to the farmers. It is important to share good things for a greener earth and for a more prosperous society”, Novita, Trees4Trees Forestry Coordinator revealed.

Author: V. Arnila Wulandani 

Sundanese Language Training to Strengthen Communication Skill to Local Communities

trees4trees sundanese language training 1

trees4trees sundanese language training 1

West Java is one of Trees4trees’ work areas where most of the population speaks Sundanese as their first language. Although Bahasa Indonesia is used as a formal language, Sundanese as a local language is deeply attached in their daily life and daily conversation.  

Interaction and communication skills with local communities are one of the most important things to achieve successful program implementation in the villages. For this reason, field coordinators need to have good skills to communicate with them using the local language as one of effective approaches.  

Regarding the importance of mastering local language skills, Trees4Trees West Java work area held a training of communication and interaction with Suge ndanese Languaand Culture in Arjasari, Bandung. The activity aimed to improve the communication skills of the field coordinators using language properly and correctly while working around the local communities. It was also purposed to enhance the ability of field coordinators to deliver program materials to villagers in Sundanese language. 

Read also: One Tree Planted Visited Trees4Trees’ West Java Nursery

The activity was held for two days and attended by 96 staff members of West Java Trees4Trees. The workshop was delivered interactively by Elis Mia, a Widyaswara Sundanese Language Expertise. 

trees4trees sundanese language training 

“The Sundanese language skill is very important in the implementation of Trees4Trees program in areas where people speak Sundanese. It will be easier for our team in the field to communicate and to convey program information using the everyday language of farmers or the local community. It is a good way to approach them. In the Sundanese language test during the training, we had a participant who got a perfect score of 100, and two participants got a good score of 95. We really appreciated them. We hope more field coordinators will have a good skill in mastering culture after this training,” said Rahmat Syamsudin, Social Forestry of Trees4Trees.  

Rahmat also revealed that this training was expected to be a basic skill for field coordinators who work closely to local communities. In the future, capacity building trainings in communicating and interacting with local communities will continue to be carried out.  

ACIAR’s Social Forestry Research Findings

Forestry is a vital component of the livelihoods of about 80 million people across Indonesia. Many millions of small-scale farmers (smallholders) also cultivate trees as an integral part of their farming systems. However, most smallholders fail to realize the full commercial potential of the trees they plant – leading to difficulty to find a fair channel to the market. The changing dynamics of rural economies make it difficult for smallholders to understand the commercial value of forestry compared to other land-uses, so often they under-invest in their forest enterprises.

Smallholders are often grow a mixture of crops for both cash and self-sufficiency. They were common places in the Global South because the land has low associated costs, can provide food and resources for families, and it’s adaptable to varying market demands. Unlike largescale industrial farming, smallholdings were not reliant on industrial inputs, making them much more self sufficient. They were focusing on governments as we shift towards a more sustainable future and aim to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Indonesian government policies encourage its forest industries to source supplies from sustainably managed plantations and Community-Based Commercial Forestry (CBCF). ACIAR (Australian Center for International Agricultural Research) the Indonesian Government and several leading forestry research institutions made a collaborative research project to study and improve the outcomes for community forests, they were:

  • University of Sunshine Coast (USC), Queensland, Australia
  • Australian Agroforestry Foundation (AAF), Victoria, Australia.
  • Centre for Research and Development on Social, Economy, Policy and Climate Change (FOERDIA Bogor)
  • Environment and Forestry Research and Development Unit Makassar (FOERDIA Makassar)
  • University of Gadjah Mada (UGM), Yogyakarta, Indonesia
  • University of Mataram (Unram), Mataram, Indonesia
  • Trees4Trees (Bumi Hijau Lestari Foundation), Semarang, Indonesia

This project sites were in Bulukumba (South Sulawesi), Gunungkidul (Yogyakarta), Pati (Central Java), South Lampung (Lampung), and Boalemo (Gorontalo). The general objective of this project is to properly understand how smallholders manage their land, ensuring CBCF will be successful to increase smallholders’ income, and making sure national policies can be adapted and implemented effectively across the whole nation.

It was a five-and-a-half-year study that was built upon 10 years of an earlier research project. Overall, over 15 years of study went into the final result. The result was showing that a small forest of sengon (Paraseriathes falcataria) could generate return of 20% and a small forest of teak (Tectona grandis) could generate return of 15%, if well managed. By investing in education for farmers and the value chains used when selling their forest products, smallholders can be much better prepared and adaptable for the future. By supporting these smallholders through courses which not only develop farming and silviculture techniques, but also personal skills, it gives them the knowledge they need to be able to adapt to a changing world and optimise both on- and off-farm ventures.

The project was beneficial for smallholders as it gives valuable insights. As we all know, sustainable forestry means a healthier environment for everyone. With these developments, and the streamlining of bureaucracy through improvement of government agencies, the Indonesian timber value-chains can flow smoothly and add value for everyone involved, making CBCF a flourishing and profitable enterprise.