By: Jama, Grade 12 student at Darmaji School
Since the end of August, my school friends and I have been very enthusiastic about participating in the first agriculture training program at school, learning to cultivate dryland to be more productive, create food independence, and provide skills for us as the younger generation.
Starting with guidance from pak Komang Kurniawan who asked what ideas we had about dry land management, we then went to Manikaji School to learn directly from our friends there who had been learning and implementing dryland management techniques since January 2023 in their learning garden. In Manikaji, we learned how to use a simple bamboo A-frame to determine land contours, made a map, arranged waterways, and got an explanation of the use of vetiver grass to prevent erosion. We also learned to make organic compost and even visited the farm of a Manikaji student who’d successfully applied these techniques, so that her farm now produced vegetables for her family's needs - and increased income.
After two visits to Manikaji, we started training on our dry land agricultural learning garden on 1st October, led by pak Dwi, an experienced dryland regenerative agricultural expert who, for two weeks, taught us dry land management techniques. The initial stages include plotting the land contours with a bamboo A-frame, mapping out terraces, and digging waterways so that rainwater can be retained longer in the soil.
We also learnt the dangers of chemical fertilizers and the benefits of organic compost that we make from natural materials such as green leaves, dry leaves, and cow manure. Even though we had difficulties due to the lack of water sources, we were still excited. Twice a week after school, we continue to compost and form new terraces. We hope that when the rainy season arrives, we can start planting vegetable seedlings almost immediately.
Hopefully this activity will continue to run and benefit the surrounding community, building food independence in our village.
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