Empowering Inmates through Waste Management

Catfish sale proceeds are a source of livelihood for a number of the penitentiary dwellers. The price of the fish is quite attractive. The earnings are distributed to the inmates involved.

KOMPAS/IRMA TAMBUNAN

Azan Wahyuli.

Azan Wahyuli, 38, promotes the capability of inmates in Jambi through waste processing as well as catfish and maggot breeding. His activity boosts the spirit of zero waste development, at the same time helping inmates become independent.

After a morning exercise, several inmates plunged into a pond. Instead of bathing, they sorted catfish raised in cages. If the fish is big enough and worth harvesting, it’s directly sold to Angso Duo Market, Jambi city.

Catfish sale proceeds are a source of livelihood for a number of the penitentiary dwellers. The price of the fish is quite attractive. In a month, catfish cultivation produces a turnover of more than Rp50 million.

The earnings are distributed to the inmates involved. The remainder is reserved for development capital, penitentiary employees’ treasury and nontax state revenue payment.

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Apart from fish, they also cultivate organic vegetables and hydroponic plants. Their harvests are used to meet penitentiary needs and shared with other inmates’ families.

The productive penitentiary business that keeps thriving has resulted from the perseverance of Azan in guiding his inmate trainees to manage waste for maggot breeding.

Azan is a working guidance staffer in the Class IIA Penitentiary of Jambi. Over the last five years he has initiated a livestock feed business, among others through the culture of maggots he has autodidactically undertaken.

Maggots are fly larvae containing good nutrients. Its reproduction only needs household organic waste, ranging from vegetable or fruit waste, cattle dung, to food leftovers.

With the knowledge he gained from social media, Azan processed organic waste in his house for maggot breeding. He succeeded in developing his maggot production to feed livestock.

Noticing the mutually benefiting waste utilization and livestock cultivation, he went on to boost his maggot production. He gathered organic waste from the market for processing. One day, he was supplied with a truckful of waste delivered to his home.

Involving inmates

Later, Azan realized that the waste produced in the penitentiary was plentiful. “It made me think why not just process it as well. Moreover, it could at the same time empower inmates to become more productive,” he said on Friday (7/5/2021).

The penitentiary complex has long had fishponds and a stretch of land. Sadly, the land and ponds were neglected. An agriculture and fishery cultivation program was once initiated but had never been followed up.

KOMPAS/IRMA TAMBUNAN

Azan Wahyuli (center).

On this idle land, he built a simple maggot house from wood and tarpaulin. In the beginning, two inmates were trained to raise maggots. The fly larvae were fed with waste from behind prison bars.“I’ve repeatedly told penitentiary officers not to dump organic waste outside but they should heap it up in the maggot house,” said Azan.

Spoiled food waste in the penitentiary amounts to 120 kilograms daily. It’s only solid waste, excluding rice washing waste that can reach 150 liters and other waste.

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As organic waste is quite big in quantity, maggot production can meet 50 percent of the feed for catfish, the young of which were sown into the pond in the early Covid-19 pandemic period.

Unexpectedly, from two ponds 3 tons of catfish can be harvested per month. Beside the catfish ponds, parrotfish and carp are also bred. The entire harvest yield is sold to the Angso Duo Market.

Azan feels relieved to find that maggots bring benefits not only to the economy of inmates he guides but also to the environment. The inmates in the Class IIA Penitentiary of Jambi total 1,120 people. Every day canteen officers prepare rations. Inmates’ families also often visit to supply food.

Therefore, maggots can be a solution to organic waste management so that it won’t be piled up to raise the grade of ammonia in the dump area.

Consequently, food waste will keep mounting. If left unmanaged, the waste will end in the Talang Gulo Dump. Therefore, maggots can be a solution to organic waste management so that it won’t be piled up to raise the grade of ammonia in the dump area.

Through the maggot culture, noted Azan, the penitentiary managed to achieve the zero-point target of organic waste production. The other benefit is that fish cultivation can save its production cost.

Now around 60 percent of the cost of feed can be covered by the maggot production. To meet one ton of feed, 6 quintals are derived from maggots.

In this way, they save Rp6.5 million per harvest season. With this economical spending, capital can be saved for further business development.

Besides fish feeding, maggot breeding residues also produce waste utilized as manure for vegetable planting. “Finally, all of them can be processed without leaving new waste,” he said.

At present, 20 inmates have been productively engaged in integrated agriculture. The interconnected cycle of utilization creates zero percent organic waste. Inmate trainees are now even expanding their activity by managing organic waste in the markets around the penitentiary.

Azan convinces the inmates that integrated agriculture can be initiated in their respective places following their release from prison. So far, it has been common to find inmates feeling worried about their lives after being set free. The problem is that they are unable to live independently. If they take the wrong path, they will revert to the previous state of being a social malady.

KOMPAS/IRMA TAMBUNAN

Azan Wahyuli (right).

For this reason, Azan continues to encourage his inmate trainees to strive for developing their potential, among others through the business of waste management. Processing waste is simple and inexpensive, not to mention the short production time taken.

Its yield is also sustainable and environment-friendly. If they are willing to be seriously engaged, this is the road to independence and a bright future.

Azan Wahyuli

Born: Jambi, 17 July 1982

Wife: Risma Yanti, 38

Occupation: Staff member of Class II Penitentiary of Jambi

(This article was translated by Aris Prawira)