Sumba: Towards an Organic Farming Island

Farming is the most basic source of income because the most basic need of society came from plantations, fields, and farms. Harvests can be used to fulfill one’s need for food, or it can be sold to fulfill other needs.  A healthy society can be achieved if they consumed organic foods, which means that the food should be free from preservatives or other chemical substances. However, over the course of time, society nowadays prefers instant or fast food, regardless of nutrients within it and also assumes that organic food has an awful taste on the tongue.

Such lifestyle is not only affecting the society’s dietary habits but also affecting the overall health of the society. This particular situation became an entrance point for Stube-HEMAT Sumba to have an organic farming training for Sumba’s youth. More than 30 participants from college students and youth from various communities in Waingapu and its vicinity participated in this training. The training with the theme “The added value of organic farming for human and environment” is held at the hall of GKS Lambanapu, Kambera from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 of May 2018, inviting four persons from practitioners and local government officials as speakers on the training.

The Association of Pests Controlling Farmer (IPPHTI) of Sumba district brought two speakers for this training; they’re Fajrin Rizky and Markus Dendu Ngara. Both of them are farmers, researchers, also mentors for farmers in Sumba district. They presented materials about the ecosystem, mineral content test, and manufacture of organic nutrients for livestock, and healthy rice seed selection. “Ecosystem study knowhow is critical for beginners who want to learn further organic farming because there is a process of awareness about the nature itself obtained by participants”, reveal Markus Dendu Ngara

In addition to learn all above, participants also learned the strategy how to market their organic harvest. This particular topic is presented by Umbu Maramba, a lecturer on Agribusiness at the Christian University of Wirawacana in Sumba, followed by Ir.

Rudiolof Boling who came as the representative of Eastern Sumba’s Department of Agriculture. He revealed Eastern Sumba government’s reaction toward organic farming in Sumba.

Participants of this training eagerly asked many questions, suggestions, and opinions, one of which was a hope that the government gives more attention to the farming condition in Sumba. Furthermore, participants also got opportunity to practice how to manufacture organic nutrients for livestock.

“College student shouldn’t only speak about how they’re agents of change, but rather to act as one”, said Jufri Adipapa, one of the Stube-HEMAT Sumba’s team member while accompanying the participants creating a follow-up plan. Participants divided themselves to several groups to perform follow-up on this training, such as practicing the manufacture of organic nutrients for livestock, sharing the knowledge that they obtained to their community, and making use of their campus dormitories yard as a vegetable garden for college students.

Sumba’s growth and development must bring a good impact to Sumba, that means maintaining the farming industries and hindering the entrance of negative lifestyle to their society. As Sumba’s youth, we must be a youth that becomes an agent of change in order to bring good fortunes to our region. (Apronia Dai Duka).