Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
"If I was still a young man I would definitely be rebelling at the conditions farmers are now having to endure I am deeply hurt when I hear of the continued suffering of farmers," said an angry Catholic priest Father Tan Soe Ie SJ, 79, while wringing his hands.
His vision was blurred and it seemed tears were welling behind the thick glass of his spectacles. The tone of his voice was dark and the words strong as he recounted the seemingly endless woes farmers suffer.
Although he sometimes had difficulty in breathing, Father Tan remained friendly as he recounted the fate of farmers, who he claimed got little or no attention from the government.
"It's said that we are an agrarian nation. But where is the care that should be coming from the government to benefit our farmers?" asked Tan, who worked in East Timor between 1985 and 2002 as a Jesuit priest. His job there was to work with farmers and others in the agricultural community.
"It's as though farmers are not even worthy of a greeting, they are just treated as objects. Are there any programs that benefit farmers?"
Day after day our farmers get less and less, he said. This is because few are now interested in continuing to work on the land, and because they never seem to be able to become prosperous.
Now farming is mainly done by the elderly who are less productive. Meanwhile the younger generation prefers to choose other jobs, or move to the cities. They are too lazy to become farmers and feel it is better to become a worker in the city, Tan said.
He said this situation had come about because government officials had not thought about the fate of the farmers, but only about themselves and their own interests. As an agrarian nation Indonesia has huge areas of land that are never used, yet it is rare to find a government policy that benefits farmers and improves their situation.
"I want to see progress," Tan said. "I don't feel that we should be embarrassed about copying countries like China. That nation's resurgence started some years ago when they recruited experts, indifferent to their nationality or religion.
"They understood that you need a cat to catch the mice, but who cares whether the cat is black or white? The important thing is that they can work and lead. But in Indonesia, can a minority group become leaders even though their techniques work? Why don't we have progress in many fields, including agriculture?"
These concerns have motivated Tan to keep making himself available to farmers, even though some might think it is time for him to move to Emaus, Ungaran, Central Java. Emaus is the Jesuit retirement home for priests who are no longer productive or able to do their job.
The place is like a sunset home with all the facilities for old people to live out the rest of their lives at ease. Also at Emaus, Ungaran, is the graveyard for deceased Jesuits. It is located in the yard behind the priests' house.
Jesuits such as Tan have released themselves from their families because they have taken vows of obedience and poverty. He has chosen to live among farmers on the southern slopes of Mount Merapi, Yogyakarta, since 2003.
In the village of Ponggol Pakem, Sleman, he lives in the traditional East Timorese wooden house that he built on the riverbank. He spends his days working with farmers. Since 2004 he has been making organic fertilizer from worm casts. Now he can produce 15-20 tonnes of worm fertilizer every week.
"Because I'm already old I'm not strong enough to rebel," he said. "Now I put my energies into the production of worm fertilizer. I want to make a difference by helping farmers improve their land and boost crops."
With this organic fertilizer, Tan is helping farmers get access to cheap soil nutrition so production costs can decrease.
"By using this worm fertilizer at a price within the reach of farmers, agricultural production can increase and the land can become more fertile. This is not the case with chemical fertilizers where the longer they are used the more they contribute to the land's infertility," Father Tan said.
The process of making this worm cast fertilizer is so simple, cheap and easy that all farmers can do it themselves. The main material is cow dung that has been dried, then kept under shelter and mixed with many special worms. Within four days the worms will have eaten a pile of cow dung, and the worm casts then become plant fertilizer.
After working with about seven people, Father Tan is now promoting this environmentally friendly fertilizer product. It is being marketed around the special administrative district of Yogyakarta (DIY).
"My first target is Yogyakarta," he said. "I want to establish the marketing base in this city first before going to other places. Yogyakarta has limited agricultural land; it needs to be helped with this organic fertilizer.
"I want to assist farmers and explain how this worm fertilizer can be used, and I want to do this with the assistance of the royal family. Yogyakarta people still respect the palace," said Tan who was born on Dec. 16, 1928.
By gaining the support of the royal family, he said, all farmers will feel better about accepting the fertilizer and will be prepared to change the way they farm, particularly if Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X gets involved together with his wife.
"With farmers taking up the use of this organic fertilizer, I guarantee the agricultural world will make significant progress," he said.
The proof of the effectiveness of this regal marketing approach, according to Tan, can be seen in Thailand.
"In that nation agriculture is improving rapidly because the people there still follow the king's commands, rather than those of the government," he said.
"What the king says must be followed by his people. And I hope that can also happen in Yogyakarta in a way that wouldn't occur in other provinces. The DIY is a special area."
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