All My Efforts Were Worth It: Planting Mangroves, Protecting Livelihoods in Pati
As the fifth of eleven siblings, Parmi missed out on a formal education in his youth. Instead, he and his two older brothers learned how to manage fishponds from their father. Parmi quickly turned this passion into a profession and now, more than 50 years later, continues to make a living in this way.
Fishponds at the center of community life
Central Java’s Pati Regency, where Parmi lives, is well known for its milkfish (ikan bandeng). “I manage two fishponds covering a total of 1.25 hectares,” he explains. “During the harvesting season, I can yield around a ton of milkfish per hectare, and we harvest two or three times a year.”
With the income he makes from fishponds, Parmi can provide for his family. “This work allows me to give my son and daughter the education opportunities I never had,” he says.
Planting trees for protection
Parmi’s fishponds are located in the coastal village of Dukuhseti, around 100 meters from the shoreline. In 2001, huge waves flooded the coast, destroying ponds and causing enormous damage. “I lost hundreds of millions of rupiahs,” he recalls. At that time, there were no protective barriers along the coast, leaving fishponds vulnerable to floods.
In response, Parmi and his fellow fishpond farmers took steps to ensure this disaster would not happen again. They planted mangroves along the shoreline to provide a natural buffer against the waves. Now, 23 years later, those mangroves have grown big and strong. But there are not enough of them to guarantee protection.
In 2022, there was another huge ocean surge. “I lost around 100 million rupiahs (USD 6,190),” Parmi remembers. But he was relatively unscathed, compared to other farmers further up the coast. “Our neighboring village suffered even greater losses because they didn’t have as many mangroves protecting their coast,” he explains.
Grab and EcoMatcher team up to plant mangroves
Back in 2021, Parmi and other members of the Tani Makmur Mandiri farmers’ group were invited to join a mangrove planting initiative run by Trees4Trees, EcoMatcher, and Grab. A total of 30,000 mangrove trees were planted, creating a green belt covering 3.8 hectares along the Dukuhseti shoreline.
Now, three years later, Parmi and his fellow farmers are reaping the rewards of their efforts. “Planting mangroves is not easy,” he says, remembering how he and his team would work waist-deep in muddy ground. “But seeing these trees grow big and strong (almost all of them are now at least three meters tall), I feel all my efforts were worth it.”
Ocean waves no longer threaten Parmi’s fishponds as they once did. And the flourishing mangroves offer a range of other, unexpected benefits to the community – the leaves provide a sustainable source of organic fertilizer for the fishponds and the fruits, known locally as brayuh or brayo, can be sold at markets.
“Local people often come to pick the fruits,” explains Parmi, “which they can sell for 5,000 Rupiah (about thirty US cents) per bucket (500 grams). These fruits are highly in demand here, given their importance to local dishes.”
Parmi has seen first-hand the protective power and economic potential of mangroves in his community. He insists that caring for these trees and using them sustainably is essential to environmental health and social well-being. “Everyone in the village can freely pick the fruits or leaves, but cutting them down is strictly prohibited,” he says.
“We would like to thank Grab, Trees4Trees, and EcoMatcher for providing us with these mangroves and the many benefits they offer,” says Parmi. “We will continue working to protect and appreciate these mangroves, just as they protect our homes and safeguard our livelihoods.
