August, 17, 2011 : Field Trip to Cimory & Learning Farm
On August 17. 2011. Books for Hope visited Cimory factory in Cisarua Puncak. Cimory is a local company that produces and sells dairy products.
The purpose of our visit is to survey the social economic condition of local people in Cisarua in preparation for our Village Tourism Project. At Cimory, we met with the employees and the cooperative head of the village. The cooperative head explained that people in Cisarua works as dairy farmers and most of them also supply Cimory. For those who can’t afford to buy dairy cows, the cooperative will provide them low-interest loan. The cooperative head mentioned that recently poor sanitation facilities in schools surrounding the factory has become main concern. After our discussion, Cimory’s employees offered us to tour the factory. Finished with the tour, we then visited the cowshed owned by the cooperative head. We continue our discussion about production cycle of dairy cows. Done with our discussion, we headed into Learning Farm at Cipanas.
At the Learning Farm, Mr. Johan – the Executive Director – greeted us. Learning Farm is located at 500 meter2 land borrowed from PT Medco Energi – a local oil company. Learning Farm is a non profit organization with aim to provide organic farming and life skills to vulnerable youth. Mr. Johan explained further that the Learning Farm is not only recruit street kids but also kids from conflict area or post-disaster area. After going through rigorous recruitment process, 40 kids will be selected to stay at the Learning Farm for 4 months to receive organic farming, business and leadership trainings. Meals, electricity and water are provided by the Learning Farm free of charge. There is no tuition for this 4 months program, and after the program, most of the students continue their career in farming industry both in organic or non-organic setting, small part of the students also pursue career in different industries such as becoming office boy or security.
Mr. Johan added that he still keep in touch with the alumni. He gives them advice and guidance during their careers. Many of the alumni who works in the farming industry are still calling him asking for his technical advice.
During this 4 months program, the kids have been taught comprehensive organic farming technique. From how to setup ecosystem that can support certain crops, how to use nature to create low-cost fertilizer, intercropping technique until how to market and distribute the products to the customers. Mr. Johan informed us that products from the Learning Farm will be distributed to Jakarta to serve individuals and corporate buyers. Most of the individual buyers are expatriates while the corporate buyer is Kem-Chick supermarket – one of the premium supermarket in Jakarta. Revenue from these buyers will be used by the Learning Farm to cover its daily operations. Mr. Johan added that actually the Learning Farm still unable to fulfill all the demands for organic products from its existing customers. This is because the land used to plant the crops is to small to cope with the increasing demands. In addition to provide organic farming education, the Learning farm also teach the students on how to develop business plan in organic farming industry and how to optimally allocate capital from the investors to produce high quality organic products that will give maximum return.
Currently the challenges faced by the Learning Farm are: the land is too small to be able to match the increasing demands for organic products; low interest in reading among the kids because most of the books available are English books; need more books about how to cultivate plantation crops; there is a need for psychology profiling system that can determine kids’ profile so the teachers can tailor their treatment according to these profiles; there is a need for accounting and finance training for the teachers.
From these challenges, Books for Hope agreed to partner with the Learning Farm to provide Indonesian books about organic farming, to setup psychology profiling system, and to conduct workshop to increase reading interest among the kids.
We ended up our discussion with Mr. Johan and other teachers by having dinner with all Learning Farm’s families.
Article in Bahasa Indonesia
Di Learning Farm kami disambut oleh bapak Johan selaku Executive Director. Learning Farm menempati lahan seluas 500 meter2 yang merupakan pinjaman dari PT Medco Energi. Learning Farm sendiri adalah organisasi non profit yang memfokuskan diri pada pemberian pelatihan pertanian organik kepada anak-anak jalanan. Pak Johan menjelaskan bahwa Learning Farm tidak hanya menerima anak jalanan saja namun ada juga anak-anak dari bekas daerah bencana dan daerah konflik. Setelah melalui proses perekrutan yang cukup ketat, sebanyak 40 anak-anak terpilih tinggal di asrama di Learning Farm selama 4 bulan untuk menerima pendidikan pertanian organik, pendidikan bisnis dan pendidikan kepemimpinan. Semua fasilitas makan, minum, listrik dan air sepenuhnya ditanggung oleh Learning Farm. Pendidikan 4 bulan ini sifatnya cuma-cuma alias gratis dan setelah melewati masa pendidikannya, anak-anak ini banyak yang meneruskan karir di bidang pertanian baik itu organik maupun non-organik, ada juga sebagian kecil anak yang bekerja di bidang keamanan dan juga sebagai office boy. Pak Johan juga menambahkan bahwa beliau masih tetap menjalin hubungan erat dengan para alumni Learning Farm. Beliau menceritakan bahwa banyak alumni yang terjun menekuni pertanian organik masih kerap menelfon beliau untuk meminta saran teknis.
Selama proses pendidikan 4 bulan ini, anak-anak diajarkan proses bertani organik secara komprehensif. Mulai dari bagaimana membentuk ekosistem yang mendukung jenis tanaman tertentu, teknik pembuatan pupuk yang ekonomis, teknik pengairan dan tumpang sari hingga bagaimana cara memasarkan dan mendistribusikan produk organik tersebut ke pelanggan. Pak Johan menginformasikan bahwa produk-produk organik ini di distribusikan ke pelanggan di Jakarta yang terdiri dari pelanggan individu yang kebanyakan para ekspatriat dan juga pelanggan institusi yaitu Swalayan Kem-Chick. Dari hasil penjualan ke para pelanggan di Jakarta inilah Learning Farm memenuhi biaya operasional harian mereka. Pak Johan menambahkan bahwa jumlah permintaan akan produk organik masih jauh lebih banyak dari kapasitas produksi di Learning Farm, hal ini disebabkan terbatasnya lahan organik yang tersedia. Selain mengajarkan pertanian organik, Learning Farm juga mengajarkan bagaimana membuat business plan di bidang pertanian organik yang efektik dan bagaimana mengalokasikan modal dari para investor secara optimal untuk menghasilkan tanaman organik berkualitas tinggi sehingga mampu menghasilkan return maksimal bagi para investor.
Tantangan yang dihadapi Learning Farm ini antara lain adalah terbatasnya lahan untuk meningkatkan kapasitas produksi untuk memenuhi jumlah permintaan yang meningkat; rendahnya minat baca anak-anak disebabkan buku-buku yang tersedia hampir sebagian besar adalah dalam bahasa Inggris; minimnya buku-buku yang membahas cara bercocok tanam tanaman perkebunan seperti kopi dan cokelat; adanya kebutuhan terhadap suatu sistem psikologi yang dapat menentukan profil anak-anak sehingga para pembina mengetahui secara akurat jenis treatment seperti apa yang harus diberikan; adanya kebutuhan untuk pelatihan akuntansi dan keuangan bagi para pembina Learning Farm.
Berangkat dari tantangan ini, Books for Hope bersedia untuk bekerja sama membantu Learning Farm terutama dalam hal pengadaan buku-buku pertanian organik berbahasa Indonesia, perancangan sistem profiling anak; dan penyelenggaraan workshop untuk meningkatkan minat baca anak didik di Learning Farm.
Setelah berdiskusi dengan Pak Johan dan rekan pembina lainnya, acara pun ditutup dengan buka puasa bersama dengan seluruh anggota Learning Farm.
