The “Bachelor of Forestry”
H Artim Yahya
Disasters like floods and landslides due to illegal logging in Santong village, Kayangan district, North Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, made Artim Yahya, 51, concerned. So he coordinated the local residents to replant trees in a 221-hectare deforested area. Natural disasters nowadays hit far from the village.
Artim said that floods and landslides occurred every year in the 1990s in Santong village of Kayangan district, some 97 kilometers to the north of West Nusa Tenggara’s capital, Mataram. This was unsurprising, considering that the forest that had served as a catchment area had been cleared. “The forest looked more like a soccer field,” Artim said.
Some of the illegal loggers were arrested, charged and sent to jail. One of them was Artim’s relative in Santong village.
Illegal logging in the forest, which was later given the status of Hutan Kemasyarakatan (HKm) or community forest, occurred before 1997, caused by the limited amount of land owned by locals. The paltry plots of land could yield only Rp 500,000 (US$37.49) per farmer if cultivated. This amount was only enough to pay for the farmers’ daily needs, and excluding certain fees such as their children’s tuition. Surely, their monthly earnings were inadequate. Because of this, some of the villagers attempted to seek better lives by becoming migrant workers in Malaysia. others, in desperation, resorted to illegal logging.
Under such conditions, Artim was moved to get involved and find a solution. An opportunity came up when the HKm program was introduced in Santong village in 1997.
A community forest is a state forest, the utilization of which is prioritized for improving the welfare of people living in and around the forest area. The policy was first issued by the Forestry Ministry in 1995 and it has gone through several revisions. The policy aims to improve people’s welfare through an optimum, fair and sustainable forest resource management, in order to maintain the sustainability of the functions of the forest and the environment.
People need to submit a proposal to manage an HKm. Artim stood at the front of the line to convince officials who doubted the locals. “If the forest [in Santong village] is no longer green, I will be its guarantor. What was important to me was that the residents gained the right to manage [the forest] and they could also enjoy the results,” Artim told the official.
However, the villagers also posed a challenge. Some expected instant results. They only wanted to work on other people’s land in order to secure an immediate income. “Some asked if they should just eat wood every day,” Artim explained.
Others rejected the idea of managing the forest. They were afraid that the government would take back the land that they had reforested. If that happened, the villager would be severely disappointed.
Friday prayers
Artim was not dispirited in the face of the rejection. He tried to engage the local residents through dialogue, so that they would work the HKm lands. He even asked Muslim clerics to include messages supporting the HKm program in their sermons for Friday prayers.
After the strategy garnered little response, Artim tried another way. He planted his 44-are (around 4,400 square meters) field with perennial plants, including cloves, durian, coffee and cacao. He got good results.
Seeing Artim’s success, others became more interested in following his footsteps. In early 1997, 50 villagers started managing HKm lands.
An allocation of 1 hectare of land is provided per family. This plot of land is planted with chili, betel palms, vanilla, coffee, cloves, cacao, sapodilla trees, bananas, sengon trees, mahogany, nutmeg, candlenut and durian. By October 1997, families could already harvest chilis almost daily, but other plants, such as intercropped tubers, would require more time to develop.
The new source of income boosted the welfare of residents in the village, which enjoys cool breezes. For example, a farmer could make Rp 20 million from harvesting cloves in 2000. In 2016, the same farmer could make Rp 5 million from durian, Rp 7.5 million from three quintals of coffee and Rp 4,000 for every bunch of bananas. In one season, local farmers can harvest 300 bunches of bananas. “This [the earning from selling bananas] covers my living costs for a month,” said Artim, a bachelor of law who is often called a “bachelor of forestry” due to his enthusiasm in managing the forest. He currently manages 1.5 hectares of forest.
The other villagers’ earnings do not differ much from Artim’s. With the large income, they can set aside the earnings from selling their commodities to pay for their children’s schooling, purchase motorbikes or even go on the haj.
Of the 283 farmers in the Maju Bersama (progress together) Cooperative that was established by the Santong farmers, 30 have gone on the pilgrimage to Mecca and 24 more will go in 2017.
The desire to work as migrant workers or on other people’s lands have subsided. More than 50 villagers used to work as migrant workers. Today, only six or seven are migrant workers. These villagers wish to make additional incomes from activities other than managing forest resources. Their wives or relatives who do not accompany them abroad take care of their lands for them.
Mindset
Artim’s patience in urging the villagers to manage the forest is showing results. Apart from raising their welfare, the local mindset has also changed. They do not only depend on rice for their living, but also plant fruits and other highly valuable crops.
They now have a sense of initiative and awareness of environmental protection. The villagers have established a rule that trees in HKm areas could only be cut down to build homes and not for sale. For every tree that is cut down, the landowner must replant five trees of the same variety.
The area that had been deforested and covered only with weeds has been lush again for several years. Springs that had been dry for decades, like Lokok Peropa and Lokok Erat, are now flowing again. Furthermore, the area no longer sees any floods or landslides.
What Artim and other villagers have accomplished have inspired many people. Today, the community forest area of Santong village is often visited by college students and researchers from several countries, including the Philippines, Thailand and the US.
