EAST JAVA — Dompet Dhuafa East Java together with the Village Government of Gondang and Bendungan Village, Gondang District, Tulungagung Regency, collaborated with the Nuswantara Organic SRI community to organize organic rice farming training. The training was held at Bendungan Village Hall, Gondang District, Tulungagung, for 4 days (January 23-26, 2023).
Attended by 50 participants, the focus of this training was learning soil ecology and the Organic System of Rice Intensification. After that, it was continued with a field school program and mentoring for 6 months.
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Dompet Dhuafa East Java Program Manager, M. Rizky Aladib explained that the organic rice training program was held because farmers were concerned about the declining quality of the soil due to the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides which resulted in decreased yields.
“We as farmers now find it difficult to farm, fertilizer prices are rising, soil quality is getting worse, the weather is erratic and it turns out that after counting, we have no profit to enjoy while farming,” said Mr. Sanusi, a farmer from Bendungan Village.
In line with what was conveyed by the farmers, Suryanto, S.Kep., Ns. as the Head of Bendungan Village agreed with the conditions experienced by farmers in the Bendungan Region.
“I am almost always consulted by the community regarding agricultural conditions that are not favorable to farmers, even though the people of Bendungan and Gondang depend on agriculture. If there is no immediate solution to this agricultural problem, it will certainly have an impact on the economic and social welfare of the community,” he said in his opening remarks.
To all participants, Rizky Aladib hopes that the training organized by Dompet Dhuafa East Java and the Nuswantara Organic SRI community will have a direct impact on farmers. Hopefully there is a new awareness and understanding of the sustainable agricultural process and provides significant benefits for the social and economic welfare of farmers, especially in Gondang Village and Bendungan Village.
“Let’s learn together and open our minds to new things, even though we are farmers who have been in the agricultural world for a long time. However, in the learning process, we must empty the glass so that we can receive from the knowledge,” he ordered the training participants. (Dompet Dhuafa/Jatim/Nunik)