Farmers Adapt to Face Adversity

The emergence of FMD has prompted marketing creativity, as showed by livestock farmers. Helped by social media and spurred by the willingness to research, they are looking for ways to mitigate the adverse situation.

KOMPAS/VINA OKTAVIA

The PMK Task Force Team of Bandar Lampung City checks the health condition of the sacrificial livestock at the stall selling sacrificial livestock in Bandar Lampung, Wednesday (6/7/2022).

Muhammad Shobirin (31) was pointing his smartphone camera at his sheep. After pressing the “record” button, he began the narration.

"Assalamualaikum, I am a [a member of] Santri Tani Farm. I want to offer Garut sheep. Healthy, fat, about 1.5 to 2 years old," he said, referring the famous breed of sheep widely domesticated in Garut, West Java.

Shobirin played the video recording on a flock of sheep inside the cage at Sampih village, Susukanlebak, Cirebon regency, on Monday (4/7/2022). The stage-like cage is one meter high from the ground built on the wooden pillars.

Finishing the video shooting, he uploaded it to his Facebook account “Shob Muhammad Shobirin”.

From a remote village, which is 30 kilometers away from the regency’s administrative seat, he markets his sheep beyond land boundaries.

Apart from the Covid-19 pandemic, Shobirin said, this year’s business is facing further adversity from the prevalence of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). Data at the PMK Vigilance shows that a total of 33,210 cattle in West Java were infected and 586 died as of Wednesday (6/7).

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The virus-carried disease is reported to have been transmitting rapidly through the air. Despite being free from the infection, humans can be the vectors. Like Covid-19, the FMD demands restrictions on mobility.

That is why Shobirin did not bring his sheep to the cattle market. All he needs is a smartphone with internet connection and engagement with customers is just within fingertips. With the customers including those in Jakarta, he had so far sold 10 of 33 sheep in stock. They were for Idul Adha-related sacrificial purposes, he said. The sheep prices ranged from Rp 3 million to Rp. 5.5 million per head. The cattle were assured to be healthy and have a medical certificate. Shobirin also bathed the sheep regularly so that they looked glossy when photographed.

More than 100 sheep have been sold. People will buy cows usually nearing Idul Adha.

Reliance on social media marketing was also showed by Fahri (31), a customer service attendant for Musim Qurban. While tending the livestock on Monday (4/7) from a blue tarpaulin tent on the edge of Soekarno-Hatta Street, Bandung, he took pictures of the sheep to show off online.

He said it had been effective, with the @seasonqurban account followed by more than 341 users as of Wednesday (6/7). The account took 42 contents.

“More than 100 sheep have been sold. People will buy cows usually nearing Idul Adha," he said. Musim Qurban provided a total of 204 sheep and 4 cows for this year. "We have begun [online marketing] since the Covid-19 spike last year. At that time, 100 were sold, half of them via online,” he said.

ARSIP PEMKOT BANDUNG

Health workers inject vaccines against the foot-and-mouth disease in Cicendo, Bandung City, West Java, Wednesday (29/6/2022). This step was taken to suppress the transmission of disease outbreaks, especially approaching Idul Adha.

In addition to the online promotion, Motekar Farm, a provider of sacrificial livestock in Bandung Regency, as stated by manager Yuga Suwarsa, allows the consumers to come to the cattle cage. They are told to follow health protocols to prevent the spread of FMD.

Yuga said prospective customers were allowed to have a look at the livestock from a distance, about 30 meters apart. There is also a video and image service for the visitors to see the details of the livestock. "All is done to minimize FMD. Don't let people be harmed," he said.

Breeding

In addition to promotion by social media, the Santri Tani Farm also conducts mapping to find out the potential as well as the obstacles encountered by the farmers in their surroundings.

They tallied the number of sheep owned by 70 farmers until April 2022, which amounted to 699 heads. Of that number, as many as 271 were female.

The data show that the population of female sheep was less than that of males. “The 8-month-old ewes were sold cheaply, at the range of Rp 700,000-Rp 900,000 per head. Breeders chose to raise the males,” Shobirin’s fellow-breeder Isomuddin said.

In fact, if the breeders had refrained from releasing them, an ewe could have given birth up to four times during its productivity period. “The female should be an asset,” he said, adding that ewes were akin to cultivation land; the owners could end up as laborers when they sold their assets.

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For Santri Tani Farm, he said, they chose to raise the baby sheep for the purpose of reproduction, with nine new ewes born from 12 sheep in the last six months.

Besides being profitable, this way, he said, could also minimize the risk of FMD infections, as they did not need to look outside for the cage stock with their breeds continuing to reproduce.

Based on the research, Santri Tani Farm has also developed an agriculture-integrated animal husbandry, in which the sheep dung is processed into fertilizers for rice fields. On the other hand, the straw from the harvested rice fields is used for sheep feed.

The farmers’ efforts to develop adaptive breeding patterns in the midst of adverse conditions deserve support from many circles. They do it to keep resilient in difficult times.

This article was translated by Musthofid.