Age is Just a Number! The Success Story of Older Farmers in West Wewewa

Age is Just a Number! The Success Story of Older Farmers in West Wewewa

Daka Danu is a farming group operating in Pero Village, West Wewewa Subdistrict. The group consisted of twenty members who already passed the golden age. However, the farmers didn’t let age restrict their growth and vegetable cultivation. The people of West Wewewa believed that their land was the ultimate source of living. Thus, they needed to continue optimizing it as best as they could. Most Daka Danu members came from families who had been farmers for several generations. It was in line with Sumba’s traditional belief, where the people perceived farming as the fate Marapu gave. 

Before starting vegetable cultivation, the members of Daka Danu were tobacco farmers. While transitioning to vegetables, they received many help, including one from Yayasan Bina Tani Sejahtera (YBTS). The field officers of YBTS, supported by William and Lily Foundation (WLF) through Agricultural Livelihood through Integrated Approach (PERMATA) project, assisted the farmers with Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) implementation in vegetable farming. The farmers learned the theory and immediately applied it to their farmlands. The extreme weather of West Wewewa, such as the high level of rain, became one of the challenges they needed to conquer. For example, when the farmers tried to cultivate chili, only 1,200 out of 1,300 chili crops survived until the harvest season. 

Despite the neverending challenges, the farmers successfully obtained satisfying results from their land. The excellent quality of their products increased the farmers; revenue. One of the farmers of Daka Danu, Trimuliana Malo, expressed that he could obtain eight kilograms of chili. The price for the chili itself was IDR 50000 per kilogram. “We could obtain around IDR 500000 to IDR 600000 per week,” he added. 

The harvest's success further motivated the farmers to continue improving their farmlands. They also had a strong will to continue learning and spreading the knowledge they obtained to other farmers in their surrounding area.  The farmers of Daka Danu believed that age did not limit their ability to be better farmers. “Though we’re no longer young, we always feel fresh and youthful when we’re farming on the land,” said the leader of Daka Danu, Mikael Malo Bill. 

In the future, the farmers hoped that farming activities could further increase their income and livelihood. “We hope the profit from the farmlands will not only be sufficient for our daily necessities but also to pay for our children’s education needs,” said Naomi Milla, the wife of Daka Danu’s leader. We hope that the spirit of the farmers will always be ignited along with the development of farming industries in West Wewewa.