Healthy children with a healthy future

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Aan, 55, lives in Mepanga district, Central Sulawesi province. Two of his five children, Agil, 7, and Nisa, 6, receive support from Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI) in Parimo.

Aan is from a migrant family from West Java, but has lived in Maranti village for the past year. Aan is learning about farming to support his family.

“I think that Maranti is located about 500 metres above sea level, so I dare to grow crops. It took two months to learn, especially about the weather and the water,” Aan said.

His farm is far from water sources, but it is not an obstacle to him. He went to a book store in Palu city, a 9 hour drive, to find information on watering and irrigation. He also used pesticides to cultivate and for pest control.

Aan realised that pesticides were dangerous and threatening his own family members who ate the vegetables from the farm.

In January 2015, the World Vision programme in Parimo invited the farmers and local government officials in Maranti village to learn about organic farming in one of the assisted villages of ADP Poso.

After the study visit, Aan realised that pesticides were dangerous and threatening his own family members who ate the vegetables from the farm. Since then Aan has only used natural fertilisers, free from chemicals and pesticides.

The local farmers group set up home composting and produce compost from natural materials.

The process of forming a community farm organisation - inviting and convincing neighbors - was not easy to do. Aan receives some negative responses, but he remains focused on what he believed.

"Farmers must see the results first," he said after the two month-process of building a home composting system. "By consuming vegetables free from chemical elements, I want all children to be healthy so that they will also have a healthy future."

*Written by Setyo Lesmono, Community Development Coordinator, Wahana Visi Indonesia at Parimo operational office