KGRE's AusAID Page for November 2004 

The Australian Community Development and Civil Society Strengthening Scheme (ACCESS)

Read these other ACCESS stories from KGRE Working for ACCESS by Ni Ketut Ayu Ambarini Education and the Environment - Sama Bahari – Kaledupa Wakatobi Area – Wanci, Kaledupa, Tomia and Binongko islands also called Tukang Besi Islands) ACCESS working withYayasan Mbaha Eti (YME) is a foundation in Waingapu, Sumba Timur Education and Gender in South-East Sulawesi ACCESS - the beginnings Farming in Sumba

Increasing the Livelihoods of the Poor and Women 
in Ketara Village, Pujut,Central Lombok

(Meningkatkan Taraf Hidup Masyarakat Miskin dan Perempuan di Desa Ketara, Pujut, Lombok Tengah)

Background
Ketara village (Pujut sub district, Central Lombok) is classified as a poor village because 71% of its population lives below the poverty line. The main cause of poverty in the village is the lack of alternative income generating activities. Most of the villagers work as low-income labourer, and have little or no skills and lack financial capital to develop their own businesses. The program supported by ACCESS provides the villages with financial capital to help establish a local finance institution to manage a revolving fund and to provide training in small business management. The program will help 170 poor families made up of a total of 850 villagers.

The informal focus group discussion to develop this case study was attended by three men, four women and two NGO representatives. According to the group the major issue was not land ownership, but quality of the land. There was no water for rice crops. Before 1980 the village suffered from famine. They use chemicals now to break down the dry soil, but this increases dependence on chemical fertiliser which adds to the cost of production. The price of chemical fertiliser used has doubled in recent times and now costs Rp.10.000 per quintile.

The village suffers from lots of unemployment and relies on seasonal work. Women supplement their family’s income with bakulan (kiosks).

With the current program the community decided to use funding to buy goats and to support some women with their bakulan businesses. The first group has received its goats and two of the goats have reared kids in just over a month. There is some frustration from the other group in the hamlet that has not yet received their goats. The community chose goats particularly because they were most appropriate for the environment. Funding was also limited, so the community did not have the financial support for their first priority – irrigation. The community cited good support from the NGO.



Case Study 1  - the cost of farming land is expensive

Nina Adi Gusman & suaminya
Central Lombok 10/09/04

'My name is Nina Adi Gusman and my age is around 27. I am married with two sons. The eldest son is now in class 5 at primary school, while my youngest is in kindergarten. I live in Sarah. We face a lot of problems here because of a lack of water.

Before the program started here I did not have any daily activities, aside from being a housewife and looking after my children. I helped my husband with the rice crops, but we only get one crop of rice a year and even that can fail. It depends on the weather. We can never be certain of our production, because it all depends on the rain. If we get good rain then we get a good crop, not so bad, about three quintile. If it doesn’t rain we fail.

The cost of farming the land here is expensive. We have to use chemical fertiliser to break down the soil and that cost about Rp50 000 per quintile and later it will rise to Rp100 000 per quintile, so for three quintile it will cost us Rp300 000. That’s too expensive; it’s harder to profit from the crop.

I originally come from Praya and moved here in 1992 when I got married. It’s much harder here than in Praya. In Praya we don’t have a problem with water and in a good year we can get three crops of rice. Life here is tough because there’s no water for the crops. Because of this work opportunities are limited.

When the NGO came here I was happy because we would get assistance. I’ve never been part of a NGO program.. We had discussions and we were able to choose what we wanted. They encouraged us to come to meetings and gave us all a chance to speak. I joined the goat program because I wanted goats for my family. We were given two goats, but they haven’t had kids yet.

I think with these goats our problems will be reduced a little bit, because by raising goats we can then sell them and use the money for our rice farming costs, even though goats aren’t all that expensive. We have to pay for fertiliser and chemicals and seeds. Breaking down the soil here is expensive.

I’d really like the situation to be better than it is now. After the goats I’d like to receive some more assistance. And I want my children to continue going to school so they will become smart and get experience'.

Case Study 2 - goats represent a new form of income in Dusun Sarah

Bapak Lalu Mohammad Sakir, Kepala Dusun, Dusun Sarah
Central Lombok 10/09/04

Bapak Lalu Mohamad Sakir, 65, is the head of Sarah Dusun, a small dry village in Central Lombok consisting of around 80 families. The village is being assisted by a local NGO called Yayasan Lembaga Dinamika Masyarakat or YLDM (The Dynamic Community Foundation) which is implementing an empowerment and micro-credit scheme funded by ACCESS. Using a community-led approach involving surveys, assessments and training, the villagers themselves decided how the available funding would be spent. They decided it would be best spent buying goats for some families and assisting others with their small home-based supply businesses (called bakulan in Lombok).

Lalu Mohamad Sakir is deaf, a condition he was suddenly struck down after an illness a few years ago. The following interview was conducted through written questions.

Can you tell me a little about this village and the problems it faces?
'This village suffers from a lack of water. There is enough for households, but not enough for growing crops. Before 1980 this village suffered from famine. It was so bad that WHO came here and they trialled a new rice growing technique (known locally as gogorancah, the technique requires breaking down the soil with chemical fertilisers). The new technique was successful and we had a good crop. There was enough to live on. Since 1980, thanks to God, we have been able to eat and we have not experienced famine again. After this the government came to look at what we were doing and it became a national program..

Before the government provided us with aid. But it always failed. We were given cows, two for each family. But back then there were a lot of thieves and the cows were always stolen. Hopefully now, God willing, that will not happen. Now we have village security. Previously if people were caught stealing they were beaten. I don’t think people will steal here again'.

What other problems does the community here face?
'The first is in the field of farming. Some people here own land, but the cost of farming the land is too high. The cost of production is very expensive. We need to buy fertiliser and other chemicals to get just one crop of rice a year. The crop also depends on the rainfall for the year. The second problem is the capacity of the community which is still low. You can see that we are very poor'.

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