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MANDONG KANA, a 38-year-old farmer, beamed with pride and happiness as his friends announced that he will soon go on a hajj - a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia that all Muslims are required to take at least once in their lifetime if they are physically and financially capable. For some communities in Indonesia, the hajj has become a symbol of economic prosperity.

Five years ago, the farmer from Tolongano village in Donggala District, Central Sulawesi did not dare dream to go on a hajj because he was poor. Mandong then had a two-hectare cacao plantation and a one-fourth hectare rice field with very low production. He often had to borrow money from cacao traders and other farmers to make both ends meet. However, his fortunes soon took a turn for the better when he started using a new cacao production technique. The new method was disseminated among farmers as part of an Asian Development Bank-financed undertaking, the Poor Farmers Income Improvement through Innovation Project (PFIIP).

Today, Mandong owns four hectares of cacao plantation and a motorcycle. Aside from his planned pilgrimage to Mecca, he is also preparing to renovate his house.

Adopting a New Planting Technique

The transformation started four years ago when an international nongovernment organization set up a field school in the village to help farmers increase their harvest from the cacao plantation that was old and poorly maintained.

“The cacao farmers in the village have been suffering for years. A hectare of cacao plantation only produced 350 kilograms of cacao or one third of its full potential. The price was also low due to the poor quality of the cacao,” says Mandong.

The field school introduced farmers to a new technique that involved transplanting a new graft of cacao into an old cacao tree. Within 12 weeks, the new graft grew into a new branch; and within a year, the new branch started producing cacao fruits. When the new graft matured, the main branch was cut down to allow the new grafts to grow. That way, the old cacao plant was given a new lease in life.

Only three farmers, including Mandong, took the chance and started to use the new method. Most of the other farmers were not convinced it will succeed. “They told me I was mad to cut down a productive cacao tree to make way for the new stems to grow. They said they would not try it until they see the result,” says Mandong.

Using the old technique, farmers planted a seed of cacao to replace the old cacao tree. They had to wait for three years before the tree started to produce cacao fruits. The new method, however, speeds up the process, taking only one year to produce cacao fruits. By using good quality of entries for the graft, the cacao production doubled, and even tripled at times.

Mandong, who adopted the new method in 2005, has since been reaping its benefits. The new technique has increased his annual cacao production from 350 kilograms to 2.5 tons per hectare. At the current price of rupiah (Rp) 15,000 ($1.60 equivalent) per kilogram, Mandong earns around Rp35 million ($3,760) per year, six times higher than his income using the old method.

Innovating for Success

The PFIIP has helped many farmers follow Mandong’s footsteps. The $56 million project is promoting the enhancement of rural production and productivity through increased innovation in farm production and marketing systems. The project helps disseminate innovation in agriculture production, such as the side graft technique, among farmers.

Through the PFIIP, ADB introduced in 2006 the side graft technique to farmers in Donggala District, one of five district beneficiaries. “The project helped the farmers develop a demonstration plot, organized trainings on side graft and encouraged farmers to adopt the techniques in their own plantation area,” says Eko Ananto, the Project Manager for PFIIP.

Sukses (Success), a farmer’s group to which Mandong belongs to, was selected to participate in the project. Mandong and his friends were mobilized as trainers for other farmers.

“The ADB project has helped convince other farmers to adopt the technique. The farmers in Tolongano did not want to miss the boat and started to follow suit,” says Agus Susilo Hadi, the head of the farmer group Sukses.

As a result, demand for farmers with the transplantation skills increased. Mandong and his friends sold their services to other farmers who wanted to adopt the technique. They created side graft for other farmers and were paid Rp5,000 ($0.5) per graft. The skilled farmers also provided services beyond their villages. Recently, they received an order to work on 10,000 side grafts and generated an additional income of Rp50 million ($5,376) from the business.

Mandong and his friends also provide their expertise to farmers who cannot afford to pay for their services. They train poor farmers to use the technique and encourage them to do grafting themselves. As incentive, they provide free entries (stems for graft) for the farmers. “I want them to start doing the graft themselves so they do not have to spend any money. If they want to improve their livelihood, they have to work hard for it. They should not wait around for assistance. I was able to do it, I am sure they can do it too,” says Mandong.

Many cacao farmers have followed his advice and are now eagerly looking forward to a good harvest this year and a better life ahead.

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