Planting the seeds of change

ID Nugroho , The Jakarta Post , Bondowoso, East Java | Tue, 07/01/2008 10:25 AM | People

It was curiosity that motivated Jadjit Bustomi to take his students from SD Sucolor I Maesan Bondowoso elementary school to Paseban hill for a study tour back in 1977.

The excursion almost turned into tragedy when a student slipped on a stone and fell over, rolling down the hill.

"At that time, I realized how dangerous a barren hill is. Rocks from a landslide could fall on people living down below," Jadjit recalled.

After the incident he began thinking about regreening the 118-hectare barren hill not far from his home in Maesan, Bondowoso regency, East Java, but he was not sure where to start.

The former fiber company worker from the East Java town of Kediri decided to move to Sucolor in 1977 to try his luck as a teacher.

He was switching to a job that reflected his training as a graduate of the government-run Teachers Education School in Kediri.

He made the decision to move after learning that many teachers frequently asked to be transferred out of Sucolor, located some 12 kilometers from Bondowoso's city center.

Their reasons were not clear, but Jadjit suspected it was because the area's infertile and barren land made it uncomfortable to live in.

When he first set foot in Sucolor, he was stunned. Apart from the barren hill, the entire area was dried out.

"I don't know why, but at the time I was thinking about how I could change the situation," Jadjit said.

The answer appeared right before his eyes, when he saw his students suffering in the scorching heat as they walked home after school.

Already a hobby gardener, Jadjit came up with the idea of encouraging his students to plant trees along the road heading to the village.

"I just didn't want students to suffer from the scorching heat while they were walking home from school," Jadjit said.

Now several years later, the trees have grown and serve as "umbrellas" along the road toward the school.

Jadjit came up with more ideas, this time working on rice fields and farms belonging to his neighbors that were used to grow vegetables and other secondary crops.

However, the father of two adopted children found out the vegetables and other secondary crops planted around the rice fields and farms brought in little revenue for the villagers.

He introduced three plant varieties -- pete tree, which produces beans with a pungent odor, mango and durian.

In the beginning, no one welcomed his ideas.

"Maybe because they were not used to it. So I tried planting them first in my own field. Finally the villagers realized that pete, mango and durian are more profitable to grow."

Within a year, a single pete tree can produce 6,000 pods of pete. In a city, each pod can fetch Rp 2,000.

Villagers were soon asking Jadjit to teach them how to plant it and pete became the new farming treasure of Sucolor.

In order to meet demand for pete seed, Jadjit and the villagers produced at least 100,000 seeds for further farming.

"Those seeds aren't for sale. The residents only replace the Rp 200 (20 US cents) cost per seed for production and the money is used to produce more seeds," Jadjit said.

Pete trees, as well as durian and mango, turned the once-barren hill a lavish green, while Jadjit became known as the resident seed expert.

Far from satisfied, he continued searching for plants that were both suitable for Sucolor's soil and would be profitable for the villagers.

Jadjit only gained recognition for his efforts when he won a competition to plant a million trees back in 2004, but has since won several awards, including the Kalpataru Award on June 5 this year for World Environment Day.

The award was presented by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Jadjit, who went on to be a principal of SD Sucolor from 1987 until this year, for his dedication to environment preservation beyond his official duties.

But despite the accolades and the cash prize of Rp 10 million -- which falls far short of the time and money Jadjit has dedicated to environmental restoration and community building -- he remains a humble man.

"Actually, I don't like the idea of being awarded, but that's up to others," he said.