Community Gardens Protect Bandung Basin

KOMPAS/TATANG MULYANA SINAGA

Farmers rest after loosening dry land due to the dry season in Cimenyan, Bandung Regency, West Java, Tuesday (7/9/2021).

Community gardens with perennial plants have sprung up on the hills up the Bandung Basin. Their existence is seen a starting point for a wiser approach to the challenge of weather and climate problems in disaster-prone areas.

As morning was drifting to noon, Sukmana, 50, kept plowing the soil of a plot of land that had been turned a garden, in Cimenyan, Bandung regency, West Java, on Tuesday (7/9/2021). For three hours, he had been swinging his hoe to break up chunks of soil.

The 700 square meter plot, which is no longer planted with vegetables because of the lack of water supply, had been tilled for the previous week as the new planting season was coming.

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However, unlike previous years, the land was not bare. Thirty lime and 10 avocado trees, which were planted four years before, were growing. They stood upright on the 30 degree slope. "Placed on the edge of the land, they keep the soil [from being eroded] when it rains," Sukmana said.

The lime seedings were procured from Cisarua, West Bandung, at Rp 25,000 per plant while the avocados were distributed as part of a reforestation program on the slopes of North Bandung, known as Kawasan Bandung Utara (KBU), initiated by the Citarum Harum greenery task force.

Planted during the dry season, the trees are growing lushly and fruitfully. "If KBU is greened, hopefully it will reduce the flooding risk in the city of Bandung," said the father of three.

Other farmers have also implemented an intercropping system on their vegetable plots with surian [Toona], cinnamon, jackfruit, durian and lemon.

He planted 150 trees on an area of 1,400 square meters two years ago.

Some 200 meters away from Sukmana\'s garden, Ido Supandi, 47, has his own garden lush with California lemon. He planted 150 trees on an area of 1,400 square meters two years ago.

At that time, he was experimenting with regreening his vegetable garden, which he had been working on since 1996. He said he didn\'t want people to keep making the farmers in the KBU the scapegoat for flooding in Bandung.

Kompas

Ido Supandi (47) waters his garden in Cimenyan Village, Bandung Regency, West Java, Wednesday (11/12/2019).

He recalled the Jatihandap flash flood that hit the city in 2018, causing substantial damage to hundreds of houses and vehicles. The flood took place as rain in upstream areas caused the Cipamokolan River to overflow.

Ido\'s efforts have borne fruit. Not only is the landscape becoming green, his land, which is located in Cimenyan, is now giving him a source of earnings. He can harvest between one and two quintals a week, worth Rp 900,000 to Rp 2 million.

The planting initiative carried out by Sukmana, Ido and other fellow farmers in Cimenyan is a small but significant step toward recovering the KBU.

Designated as water catchment area, the KBU spans approximately 40,000 hectares of land encompassing Bandung regency, Bandung municipality, Cimahi and West Bandung regency.

About 19,000 hectares of the total area are critical, which is blamed not only on massive land clearance for vegetable cultivation but land exploitation for housing, hotels, apartments, villas and cafes, which have created “concrete forests”.

Water catching slope

Recovery efforts for critical areas have also been carried out in Bandung municipality with a slope called Bukit Mbah Celeng in Cisurupan village, Cibiru, having been planted with Guava, mango, star fruit, avocado, sapodilla,

orange, durian and jackfruit trees, covering three hectares of land, in the past two years.

Once bare of greenery due to drought, the slope is now filled with 1,300 trees and expected to function well as water catchment to help reduce the risk of floods in eastern Bandung.

The two slopes are separated by a valley with a river running across.

People’s hopes for being free from flooding are partly shouldered by Agus Ariyadi, 35, a nonstructural employee at the Bandung public works office who oversees the adjacent Mbah Garut green slope campaign. The two slopes are separated by a valley with a river running across.

KOMPAS/MACHRADIN WAHYUDI RITONGA

Officers crossed two ponds in the Wetland (swamp garden) Cisurupan, Cibiru District, Bandung City, Monday (23/9/2019).

Agus pointed to one of the tributaries leading into the valley on Thursday afternoon (9/9). The two-meter wide tributary had been dried up for months because of the drought. “When it rains heavily, the river water overflows and merges into the Ciloa River. There are three tributaries in Mbah Celeng and Mbah Garut slopes," he said.

The large amount of water discharge when it rains usually triggers flooding in the downstream areas, such Gedebage. Sometimes the flooding is significant enough to cut off the traffic.

“Hopefully this upstream area will send fruit to Gedebage and won’t flood anymore. When these trees grow up and bear fruit, everyone will be happy,” he said.

On the Mbah Garut slope, the residents are allowed to work the land, but are told to preserve the perennial trees planted and administered by Bandung municipal authorities.

One of the residents, Dayat, 68, is taking care of 500 trees on a 1.5 hectare plot of land. He grows vegetables alongside coffee, avocado, mango and durian.

A large part of the slope in eastern Bandung, as reported by municipal public works agency head Didi Ruswandi, is now planted with fruit trees, covering more than 20 hectares of critical land.

The plantation area includes the Cisurupan Wetland (10 hectares), Mbah Celeng Hill (3 hectares), Mbah Garut Hill (4 hectares), Kandang Hayam (8 hectares) and Tangga 100 (1 hectare). The entire area belongs to the Bandung municipal administration.

A tributary in the area runs into the Ciloa River and through to the Cipamulihan River. The Ciloa River has been blamed for flooding in eastern Bandung. "We hold up the upstream water as much as possible," he said.

In addition to the regreening efforts, a water-catching reservoir system has also been implemented to contain flooding water by establishing a “water parking container” consisting of 14 pools with capacity of 1,327 cubic meters.

KOMPAS/TATANG MULYANA SINAGA

The location for planting 2,500 trees by the Bandung City Government at Bukit Mbah Garut in Cisurupan Village, Cibiru, Bandung, West Java, Friday (7/2/2020).

The efforts are part of the KBU recovery campaign launched by West Java provincial government by planting 17,000 trees in Cimenyan in December 2019. The critical land in the Citarum River watershed is reported to amount to 200,000 hectares. Data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) shows that West Java\'s critical land totals 900,000 hectares.

"Some 36,000 hectares of critical land have been greened, out of the target of between 80,000 and 90,000 hectares by the end of the (Citarum Harum) program in 2025," West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said.

Amid threats of climate change, the emergence of community gardens is expected to reduce the risk of natural disasters.

(This article was translated by Musthofid).