Organic farming in Java: rats, rice and traditional wisdom

Our last three days in Java are a flurry of meetings with organized groups of small-scale (peasant) farmers.

The first group is a member of D&P partner Cindelaras. Each farmer has between .5 and 2 hectares of land, most in rice paddy. Rice, we've found out, grows 5 crops over 2 years, and not only feeds the farmer's family, but is more valuable at market than other crops like peanuts. This group has also gone together on a small plot of communal land on which they are experimenting with 40 varieties of traditional rice seed. It has not been easy to collect these seeds as most died out in their area during the Green Revolution. They farm organically to preserve the local water and earth. They talk about the patience they have learned from farming organically and how they have applied this patience in their families.

I ask if they have any questions for me. Do we have rats in Canada? one asks. Turns out their communal organic plot is bedevilled by rats. Snakes, their natural predator, are scarce.as there is a thriving market for snake parts used in traditional medicine. They don't want to use poisons that will pollute the water. I really have no solutions.

They have another question. Do I know of any technologies in Canada that can help them make compost more quickly. I'm starting to feel a little useless, and say well, organic farmers are certainly creative, so if I hear of anything I'll let them know.

The next day we have a meeting with another organized small farmer group that integrates traditional wisdom into their planning. They mention how they've been using eagles to reduce the rats in their organic plots. "An eagle eats 14 rats in a day; a snake eats only one, and then goes to sleep, maybe for the whole week!".

The day after that we meet another organic farmer, part of a community that has organized on water issues near Solo. In passing, he introduces us to easy-to-make compost. He has been offered a small fortune to sell the patent to a local company, but his commitment is to organic farming and to small-scale organic farmers. He has resisted their offers and hands out his recipe to other small-scale farmers whenever and wherever he can.

It seems like all over Java small-scale farmers are creating their own solutions through organic farming, committed to the health of the water, earth, air and committed to each other. The next challenge is facilitating the exchange of new and traditional wisdom between them.