NSLIC/NSELRED SOUTHEAST SULAWESI CHAMPIONS Organic Fertilizer Enterprise of Farmer/Livestock Group 'Mekar Sari' South Konawe district
Made Lamtro (41) together with 15 farmers/livestock breeders who are members of the 'Mekar Sari' group have been producing organic fertilizer from fermented cow dungs and other organic materials in Lalosingi Village, Subdistrict Mowila, South Konawe District. The enterprise was initiated in August 2019 through the business assistance of UPPO (Organic Fertilizer Processing Unit) of the South Konawe Office of Food Crops, Horticulture and Plantation and support of the NSLIC/NSELRED Project. Although relatively new, the group has been producing solid organic fertilizer on average of 5-15 tons per month. Besides used by the farmers for horticultural crops, the fertilizer is also marketed to suppliers of ornamental plants in Kendari and plantations in some districts in Southeast Sulawesi, including Muna and Bombana. Currently, the farmers/livestock breeders’ group have earned IDR 10.23 million from the solid organic fertilizer sales after four months of production (August-November 2019). Through this organic fertilizer business, Made Lamtro together with other members have earned additional income other than farming and raising cattle and provided environmentally friendly fertilizer stocks to farmers in Lalosingi Village.
POTENTIALS AND CHALLENGES OF ORGANIC FERTILIZER BUSINESS The cattle population in South Konawe in 2019 is 69,898. The population continues to increase from the previous year, which was 67,746. The population is spread in 25 sub-districts, but there are 10 districts with the largest population, i.e. Palangga (6,257), Konda (5915), Tinanggea (5011), Laeya 94,373), Moramo (4227), Buke (3924), Baito (3650), Mowila (3629), South Palangga (3276), and West Ranomeeto (3189). Mowila and Konda Sub-districts are two of NSLIC/NSELRED project intervention sites. One cow can produce 20 kg of dungs/day and when multiplied by the number of cow population, the district is estimated to produce about 1,000 tons per day of cow dung as raw material for fertilizer production. The availability of raw materials is a great potential for farmers/livestock breeders to develop the organic fertilizer business that can be used by the farmers themselves or sold to other farmers in the South Konawe and other districts in Southeast Sulawesi. The allocation of governmentsubsidized organic fertilizer for Southeast Sulawesi in 2019 was 5,731 tons. For South Konawe, the allocation was 883 tons/year, i.e. for food crops (847 tons), horticulture (19 tons), and plantations (17 tons). The allocation is still low compared to the existing needs of the farmers. Moreover, the organic fertilizer needs of the private sector engaged in plantation business are also quite high, an average of 10-100 tons for each company depending on the size of the plantation. Some of the main challenges today are, among others, the availability of cattle manure raw materials according to standards needed for the manufacture of organic fertilizer is still limited as the cows are mostly not raised under intensive (cage) system, no accredited laboratory results and no authorized permit on organic fertilizer trading, although the field trials have been conducted and consumer experiences have shown excellent results.
Made Lamtro, chairperson of farmers and livestock breeders 'Mekar Sari' group, is managing the organic fertilizer business made from cow dung in Lalosingi Village, Mowila Sub-district, South Konawe District.
"Since being supported by NSLIC/NSELRED, I was motivated to develop my entrepreneurial spirit, especially in empowering my fellow farmers and livestock breeders. The utilization of manure for organic fertilizer has business prospects and the market potential is very good. We look forward to continuing the support in enabling us to produce quality organic fertilizer, which is accredited and licensed for circulation." (Made Lamtro, organic fertilizer enterprise of farmer/livestock breeder group 'Mekar Sari', South Konawe)
NSLIC/NSELRED INTERVENTION
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
On October 25, 2018, a multi-stakeholder cooperation agreement has been signed between NSLIC/NSELRED project, South Konawe Government, Haluoleo University and the University of Muhammadiyah Kendari for the development of cattle breeding integrated with agricultural business in South Konawe. One of the activities undertaken to support the program was encouraging farmer/livestock breeder groups to produce organic fertilizer from cow dungs and the agricultural wastes. It was aimed to enhance the environmentally friendly agricultural productivity and produce added value from cattle that will in turn increase local farmers’ income.
In August to November 2019, the members of SARI MEKAR group with 15 male farmers/livestock breeders under the leadership of Made Lamtro has produced 31 tons of solid organic fertilizer. The raw materials were collected from 22 farmers/livestock breeders (21 males and 1 female) in Lalosingi Village. To ensure the availability of cow dungs as main raw materials, the MEKAR SARI group will cooperate with farmers/livestock breeders from other villages in Mowila Sub-district, South Konawe. MEKAR SARI will also conduct laboratory testing of the fertilizer’s quality, develop demonstration garden plot utilizing the organic fertilizers for horticulture in cooperation with the women group, obtain the authorized permit to market the organic fertilizers (packaging and labelling). All these efforts are expected to boost the organic fertilizer business growth and gain wider recognition from the farmers/livestock breeders and partnering private entities.
In the project implementation, NSLIC/NSELRED provided technical support through organic fertilizer training in cooperation with the Faculty of Animal Husbandry, Haluoleo University. NSLIC/NSELRED also facilitated the marketing partnerships with a local organic fertilizer local business, Nyoman Widana, owner of Komisi, an organic fertilizer company, and provider of CEFE training. For the production facilities, the farmer group SARI MEKAR was supported by the Konawe Selatan District Office of Food Crops, Horticulture and Plantation.