Ngadas Road Development Showers Blessings

KOMPAS/DAHLIA IRAWATI

A local rides a motorbike through Ngadas village, Poncokusumo district, Malang regency, East Java, on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. Residents have been assisted by the construction of a road using village funds. The road has lowered production costs for farmers.

The government’s village funds assistance can be extremely helpful to villages in mountainous areas with minimal infrastructure. They can use the funds to build roads that can be used to easily transport agricultural food crops and products.

Most of the village funds disbursed throughout Indonesia are being used to build infrastructure, such as the rural road in Ngadas village of Poncokusumo district, Malang regency, East Java.

The rural road links the village with outlying rice fields and farms. Using the road, the local farmers can easily transport their harvests or bring fertilizer and other agricultural needs to rice fields and farms.

Ngadas village is one of the highest villages in Poncokusumo, located at an altitude of about 2,200 meters above sea level. Its population consists mainly of the Tengger people.

The village is home to 513 families, or about 1,500 people. Most are farmers. Ngadar village has 381 hectares of farms.

Nestled along the Tengger Mountain Range near Mount Bromo and Mt. Semeru, most of the village’s agricultural land lies on slopes. This condition requires special means to transport fertilizer to and crops from the rice fields in the hills down to the main road nearest the village. From there, ojek (motorcycle taxis) are needed for further transportation.

The villagers of Tengger depend on ojek to carry fertilizers and seeds from the main road to the farms and to transport their crops to the road. The ojek in Ngadas charge Rp 6,000-Rp 10,000 for a one-way trip carrying a sack or two. The ojek transportation costs add up to a large figure for a 1-hectare farm, which generally needs about 200 sacks of fertilizer and 40 sacks of seeds per planting season, and produces about 100 sacks of crops per harvest season.

The ojek costs for developing a 1-hectare farm shows that farmers must spend Rp 4.08 million for two planting seasons (340 sacks x Rp 6,000 x 2). If the average ojek cost is Rp 4 million per hectare, the farmers must spend Rp 1.5 billion per year to develop the 381 hectares of farms in the village. This is a high production cost.

“Under such conditions, we are striving to build roads to the farms. Not all areas have been connected, but the people have benefited from the results,” said Mujianto, the Ngadas village head for 2013-2019.

Connecting roads

Development on the roads connecting the farms began in 2015, with the first road to connect Jarak Ijo hamlet and Ngadas village. The initial construction involved using heavy machinery to harden and widen existing lanes. In 2016-2017, the newly expanded roads were reinforced with a concrete surface.

Today, a 1.2-kilometer road connects Jarak Ijo and Ngadas. Road development in the area has an annual budget of Rp 400 million. Ngadas\'s annual budget is Rp 850 million per year.

"The route was prioritized because it connects a communal rice field. Before the road was built, the villagers had to travel a distance of 10 km. After the road was built, the distance between the two areas [has shrunk to] a mere 5 km. This greatly helps the villagers, because they can transport their products more quickly," said Mujianto.

Tourist route

Mujianto has allocated more funds this year for reinforced concrete roads near rest areas along main road to the village. The rest area was built for visitors from nearby Malang traveling to the Bromo tourist region. Because the main road to the village is steep, a new, gently sloping road will be built in 2019 that leads to the Ngadas village gates. The new 2.5-kilometer road will serve as an agricultural as well as a tourist route.

“We will continue to build new roads for agricultural purposes to significantly reduce the costs for local farmers,” he said.

Ngadas villager Suparman agreed that the Jarak Ijo-Ngadas road was advantageous. ”The [new] thoroughfare is of great help to me, since I have a lowland paddy [in the valley]. Before, it was really difficult for me to transport fertilizer and the harvested crops. Now, because this road is here, it makes it very easy for me,” he said.

Even though the final section of the road was unpaved, said Suparman, it made his work as a farmer much easier.

“Indeed, the lowest part of the road is not completely paved. However, this road has already helped us a lot. Before, when the [entire] road was unpaved, it would become slippery and difficult to travel during the rainy season,” he said.

Villager Juminah echoed his remarks, saying that the development of the agricultural road meant she could reach Jarak Ijo quickly. “I used to walk to Jarak Ijo. It was very far and winding on the [old] main road. Using this paddy road, it is much faster,” she said.

Suparman and Juminah are only two Ngadas villagers who have benefited from the road development in the village that borders Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park.