Introducing Pak Yayan
Pak Yayan is born and raised in this very area where Blueboots Farm is located. He has spent most of his life shifting from plot to plot working on people’s plot of land to grow rice paddies, taro, cassava, sweet potatoes and many more. We are so blessed to have Pak Yayan on our team as he has the experience and local wisdom knowledge we needed to support the farm’s activities. He has a special love towards local varieties of bananas which he planted all at the edges of the farm as a personal collection.
We spent some time this morning with Pak Yayan to know him a little bit more and to find the motivation behind his love in farming and the struggles he had with organic farming.
Blueboots Farm: Bagaimana dulu awalnya mulai bertani, Pak? (How did you start farming?)
Pak Yayan: Saya mulai bertani sejak umur 20 tahun. Pertama kali mulai bertani karena orang tua saya juga petani. Kakak adik saya ada yang bertani juga dan ada yang kerja bangunan. Dulu kebanyakan kami menanam tomat, timun dan cabe untuk dijual di pasar.
I started farming when I was 20 years old. In the beginning, I started farming because my parents were farmers as well. Some of my siblings do farming, but some also work in construction. We used to grow tomato, cucumber and chili to be sold in the traditional market.
BF: Apa yang Bapak nikmati dari bertani? (What do you enjoy the most from farming?)
Yang saya suka dari bertani adalah karena ada hasilnya dari bertani. Bisa merasakan hasilnya dari tanaman yang sudah dirawat. Walaupun modalnya besar, tapi nantinya akan menghasilkan lumayan.
The thing that I enjoyed from farming is there is a real result out of it. I can see the result after taking care of the plants. Although the cost is not small, but the result will be worth it.
BF: Pengalaman menarik apa yang Bapak pernah temui saat bertani? (What interesting experience did you encounter while you were farming?)
Dulu waktu orang tua saya bertani, mereka menggunakan metode organik. Jadi pupuknya dari kotoran kambing atau dari abu bakar. Kira-kira di tahun ‘60an pupuk baru umum digunakan. Tapi bertani organik memang lebih susah daripada bertani konvensional.
When my parents started farming, they used organic method. So the fertilizer is from goat’s manure or from ash. Approximately in the 60s, synthetic fertilizer was commonly used.
However, organic farming is harder than conventional farming.