network & learning event urban farming initiatives in ... · 1) participants will get better...
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NETWORK & LEARNING EVENT
URBAN FARMING INITIATIVES IN JAKARTA
– THE WAY FORWARD
Workout.id Co-working Space, Jakarta, September 12, 2017
Organized by:
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Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... 1
AGENDA ..................................................................................................................................... 2
SEMINAR NOTES ...................................................................................................................... 3
Results .................................................................................................................................... 3
Opening .................................................................................................................................. 3
Presentation ........................................................................................................................... 5
I. Tri Leksono Hadiat (Jakarta Berkebun) ............................................................................. 5
II. Ade Nurhayati (Genus Organik) ........................................................................................ 7
III. Ridho Bilhaq (East West Seed Indonesia) ....................................................................... 8
IV. Dyah Perwitosari (MURIA/Marunda Urban Resillience In Action) ............................... 12
V. Repedibo (Anies-Sandi Ex-Campaign Team Member) .................................................. 16
Discussion............................................................................................................................ 16
Urban Farming from Four Aspects ..................................................................................... 23
Networking Session ............................................................................................................. 27
Pitching Session .................................................................................................................. 27
Promoting Online Platform ................................................................................................. 28
Closing ................................................................................................................................. 29
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AGENDA
08.30 – 09.00 Registration & coffee
09.00 – 09.15
Opening
- Workout.id (M. Maulana)
- AgriProFocus (Dedi Triadi)
09.15 – 10.45
10.45 – 11.00
Presentation
- Muria
- Jakarta berkebun
- East West Seed
- Genus Organik
11.00 – 13.00
Networking Session
Pitching/matchmaking (based on registration form)
Networking (Profile in advance)
Promoting Online Platform
13.00 – 13.10 Closing
13.10 – 14:00 Lunch
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SEMINAR NOTES
Date : Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Time : 08.30-14.00
Venue : Workout.id Coworking Space, Panglima Polim – Jakarta
Results
1) Participants will get better understanding of urban farming initiatives in Jakarta.
2) To come up with solution(s) for more sustainable and viable model of urban farming
3) To build and expand network, as well as learning from participants' experience in urban
farming.
Opening
Maula Paramitha Wulandaru (AgriProFocus)
Today's agenda are:
1. Presentation and discussion with Jakarta urban farming initiators: Ade Nurhayati (Genus
Organik), Tri Leksono (Jakarta Berkebun), Ridho Bilhaq (East West Seed Indonesia), Dyah
Perwiosari (MURIA/Marunda Urban Resilience in Action – Karina Caritas Indonesia)
2. Networking and pitching session; in pitching session, registered participants could promote
their initiatives, organizations, products or make an open-call for experts for your projects.
Meanwhile, in networking session, participants could exchange contacts or get into early
discussion of future collaboration project.
Dedi Triadi (Country Coordinator AgriProFocus)
Today, we will listen to presentations of four urban farming initiators in Jakarta and Bekasi. Urban
farming is known as a positive solution to overcome food scarcity in the future (food security),
especially in urban area in Indonesia.
Based on FAO research data, in the year of 2050 there will be rapid growth of world's population
approximately up to 10 billion and most likely Indonesia would be one of the countries with largest
population of the world. Almost 70% of the population would be preferably live in the urban areas.
We could imagine such things would happen in Jakarta in 2050 as well, there would be more and
more people live here. According to the research, there will be needed farmland as large as a country
like Brazil so that we can feed the entire population in 2050. Unfortunately, we no longer have
sufficient farming lands, in terms of size and land's fertility to produce such amount. So that, we will
need the creativity to overcome this challenge, especially for urban people.
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AgriProFocus intentionally bring up the theme “Urban Farming” as a possible solution to limited
farming space to ensure food security. Aside from fulfilling nutritional needs, we are hoping that
urban farming could be a part of climate change mitigation and adaptation. As the population
increases, pollution in our environment is also on the rise, thus the degradation of world's population
health. We are hoping that today's meeting could be a good start for making a better future through
knowledge/experience exchange and networking with others. By doing it together, we are one step
closer to bring greater impact in our life.
Maulana (Workout.id)
In average people in Indonesia consume 35 Kg vegetable per year, meanwhile the United Nations
has set the vegetable intake at least 75 Kg/person per year. That means we are more than 50% less
than the ideal needs according to that standard. I, on behalf of Workout.id, really appreciate
AgriProFocus initiatives to gather us today to discuss about urban farming. I believe, we could do it
better if we are collaborating with others.
Workout.id is probably the first and only working space focused on agriculture issue. For past 15
years we intensively provide working space for start-ups, initiatives and events focusing on fisheries
and agriculture, but we also open daily for public.
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Presentation
I. Tri Leksono Hadiat (Jakarta Berkebun)
Jakarta Berkebun is a part of Indonesia Berkebun network, which already spreads around 45 cities
in Indonesia. It consists of cities network and 9 universities. We realized that this is community based
initiative, so the active member only around 70% of total member.
“Jakarta Berkebun” used to be an urban farming movement initiated by Ridwan Kamil (recent Mayor
of Bandung) in 2010, as a possible solution for food security problem. Sometimes we are questioning
ourselves, why people who lives in the city, could not produce or grow their own food. We found
other urban farmers and urban farming enthusiasts via Twitter and we had our first plots at (soon to
be) Spring Hill apartment in 2011. On March 2011, many urban farmers community has risen in other
cities such as in Bogor and Bandung, and by May 6, 2011, networks in 6 cities had been established.
Since the first site was temporary (a loan from a member), so as the apartment block was built, we
had to move to another apartment, namely Apartment Casa Goya. We start all over again, until now
we could harvest it.
Vision and Mission of Jakarta Berkebun
Vision: Ecology, Economy and Education
Mission: Re-purpose the fallow lands in the city, so they will be more productive and ready
to use for growing crops. The plot does not have to be necessarily big, but they could be the
idle front yard/backyard, idle space at balcony or rooftop. If we could grow our spinach at our
backyard, we could at least save our money to buy food, even though we could not harvest
it in daily basis.
Ecology: We are taking care of our gardens at Apartment Casa Goya every weekend or holiday. We
are trying our best to take a good care of it, not only plant and then abandon it. Our biggest challenge
was manpower to take care of it on weekdays, because most of Jakarta Berkebun members are
working 9 to 5 and students, so they only had time on weekend.
Education: We are teaming up with school or office, which need helps to build their plots for free.
We had done it several times.
Economy: Even though we had financial motives with growing crops, not everybody who able to
grow plants, also able to sell in large quantity. Focus in fulfilling your needs first. Do not worry that if
we grow our food, then the vegetable seller will eventually run out of business. Each of us has our
own portions in the business.
Why Gardening? Why It Matters?
Gardening is a positive and fun activity, you could meet people with similar passion/hobby,
you do the actual work such as plowing the land, sowing the seed, giving fertilizers, etc. We
will reap what we sow. Sometimes if the crops are way too many for ourselves to consume,
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we sell it through social media. The minus point is, we could not produce it continuously,
because of land size (too small).
To ensure food security.
To maintain soil fertility and productivity. At the beginning, the soil in our first plot are rocky,
we should buy a fertile soil to cover up the rocky soil beneath approximately 30 cm. If we
were digging to hard, then we hit the rocky parts. As we take care our plot, the soil was getting
better.
To free ourselves from typical city life. We miss those times when we meet our friends and
interact with them, we clean up the garden and harvest our crops, and we cook our meals
together.
To turn fallow land into fertile ground.
To increase oxygen supply.
You Are What You Eat
The foods we produce on our plot are free of hazardous chemical residue.
We know how our food is produced
We know where our food came from and the farmers.
For fertilizer, we are strongly suggest to compost your food scraps and yard waste at home, so you
will not need to buy one. It is relatively easy to build the simple composter.
Verticulture: A Solution for Gardening in Small Spaces
For home that only has small space for gardening, could use verticulture or vertical gardening. In
Jakarta, urban farmers merely use hydroponic system, they still use soil most of the time. They use
pipes that cut in half, containers, etc. and arrange them vertically. It could be done on your apartment
windowsill, wall, rooftop or balcony. As long as there are sufficient sunlight and proper care, most of
these crops will grow.
Urban Farming for Business
Aside from taking care of small-scale urban farm, Tri Leksono owns a large farming field in
Cigombong, Bogor. He admitted for business, we could not do it in smaller field, because we need
at least 2 hectare of land. For marketing his crops, he goes to distributor, who stocks up vegetables
and fruit at supermarket. They usually discuss, what commodity he can provide for them. Distributors
need continuous supply, so they need partners. We could offer them specific items, such as super
tomato or edamame and also discuss the quantity. Then we know our market from the beginning. I
avoid selling it directly to market, because my to-do list will be longer. I'd rather assign this marketing
stuff to the experts and let me focus on my farm.
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II. Ade Nurhayati (Genus Organik)
Ade started to grow her interest of growing vegetable organically around 8 years ago. At that time,
organic product especially vegetables are exclusive, in terms of how and where we could get it,
higher price (compared to non-organic) and difficult to sell it to the market. She started with 2,5
hectares land in Cisarua, Bogor. The land is already fertile, but for organic farming she still need to
rotate the crops.
One of objective in growing organic farm is to educate people, especially people in the city, the
importance of healthy food. She grew the crops together with her employees and also sell the crops
directly to the end-user (chef and regular buyer). She also has delivery service for the customer. She
thought, it will be more effective by direct selling, since she cut the distribution chain shorter.
Within 3 years, she accepted an offer to make urban farm in Bekasi, West Java. The field located
inside a new housing complex, Vida, in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi-West Java. Bantar Gebang landfill
site is the largest open landfill site, which received most of the dumps from Jakarta and it located 6
km from Ade's field. This was one of challenges, at the beginning the soil condition was bad, rocky,
infertile, dry, clay soil and low-level porosity. Heavy rain pours for a day, it may cause 2 weeks of
flooding. Ade once had to start her garden all over again because of the never-ending flood.
To revitalize the soil, Ade make a compost directly on top of the soil beds within 2 weeks, using
organic dumps she got from nearest traditional market (e.g. from fruits, vegetables, farmyard
manure). She is repurposing foils from baby formula milk as polybag, because the seeds cannot
grow if she planted it directly to the soil. Her farm is actually 3 hectares, but due to limited human
resource, she only works on half of it (approximately 1,5 hectares).
Aside from plantings, her garden has marketing and educational facilities namely “Warung Kebun”
(Garden Kiosk). Other facilities on the site are seedling nursery and green house special for micro
greens and edible flowers. In addition, micro greens and edible flowers are the major income source
for her organic farm business.
Why Urban Farming?
1) To restore the ecology, which had been destroyed by city constructions.
2) To raise Indonesian youth awareness of ecology.
3) To raise awareness of healthy and nutritious food.
4) To promote healthy lifestyle, by eating healthy food and minimize illness caused by
processed food.
Furthermore, her organic farm business unit also provides course and facility for beginner farmer,
who interested in organic farming. Few organizations had learnt from Ade, such as Bekasi Berkebun
and communities in Lodan. She also introduced organic farming in kindergarten. She hopes that the
earlier kids know about farming, the more they will love their ecology. A couple of times, Ade would
go visit other sites or institutions to give a free lessons on 101 organic farming for beginner and
recycling (e.g. composting, repurposing polybag for growing seeds).
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III. Ridho Bilhaq (East West Seed Indonesia)
East West Seed Indonesia (EWINDO) is a joint venture between Dutch companies Enza Zaden and
East West Seed group, but today 100% of its employees are Indonesian. EWINDO based in
Purwakarta, West Java and it is one of the urban farming initiator in Indonesia.
One of urban farming vision is to re-introduce both younger and older generation who lives in urban
areas about farming and the importance of healthy food. Urban farming could make distribution chain
to be more efficient. They could cut down the duration of transporting vegetables and fruit, so it could
retain its freshness. It does not mean necessarily diminish the important part of farmer in rural area,
in the other hand we are helping them to keep up with our consumption needs.
Nowadays, we have reached one of urban farming objectives, to make ourselves happier and feel
fulfilled, even though it has not touched the business part yet. We often suggested to novice farmer,
to not to think about the financial advantages if you are only about to begin, think more on
psychological advantages. The disappointment will be doubled, if your crops were a failure and you
gain nothing out of it.
Urban Farming EWINDO Ways
SHARING
Knowledge sharing is a way to educate people about urban farming. EWINDO has experts for each
market segments, for instance children, women, elderly, government officers. Each representative
will give education in unique ways, based on their audience.
TRYOUT/REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCE
After having sharing session, real-life experience or tryout will give greater impact to audience. It will
help the audience to remember the lesson given and apply it in daily life. Sometimes to make people
believe, that urban farming bring positive vibes in our life, EWINDO needs helping hand from others.
They need a living-proof. They often change their minds afterwards.
FFD (Farmer Field Days)
Farmer Field Days (FFD) is a public showcase of urban farmers, mostly EWINDO's clients, partners
or community, that had been succeed in growing their garden. It is held not by EWINDO, but by the
community itself. The main objective of FFD is to amplify the effect of urban farming to wider society.
Example: together with Ace Hardware, EWINDO held knowledge-sharing session and they sell the
gardening packs at Ace Hardware stores.
In the sharing session, they allow the farmer to choose their own gardening preferences, organic,
hydroponic, chemical, aeroponic or soil, but they always give out important informations regarding
each planting methods (e.g. safe chemical/pesticide usage, hydroponic 101 & how to's, etc.)
DEMOPLOT
Demoplot is a land managed by EWINDO for educational and promotional purposes and it also
plays role as company's showcase. People could get information and support from EWINDO for
their farming needs here. Examples:
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Ladies group “Delima Cantik” at housing complex in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, is
collaborating with government of East Jakarta to grow a garden at long-abandon house.
Now it becomes a model plot for neighboring areas.
Urban farming garden at Gading Nias Apartment rooftop (25th floor). We felt slightly
pessimistic at the beginning, since the temperature is too high and lack of water up there,
but miraculously it survived. Even they could produce approximately 30 kg/week of fresh
vegetables to supply the market tenants on the building.
Benefits of Urban Farming
a) Healthy life (physically and mentally).
b) Provides learning opportunity (esp. in more fun & enjoyable way for kids)
c) Brings back social value in daily life through interaction with others.
d) Produces healthy food you can respect. You get fresher food (vegetables/fruits) and promote
healthier eating habit.
e) Makes efficient use of land, as climate buffer, as well as its aesthetic values. (example: urban
farming rooftop at PT. Basuki Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta and at PT. Bukaka). Some of it still
survived until now, it depends on the maintenance. EWINDO is not fully responsible for the
final result and maintenance.
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Growth Rate of Urban Farming
Hereby is urban farming growth data according to EWINDO sales team data:
Figure 1. Urban Farming Growth (source: EWINDO presentation slide “Urban
Farming Sustainable Future”, AgriProFocus, Jakarta: September 12, 2017)
In the year of 2014, there were only 200 urban farmers, and by the first semester of 2017 there are
13,000 urban farmers, in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi area only. EWINDO seeds
in supermarket were sold out and their production line was barely stopped to keep up with customers'
demands. They also pretty stoked with the report, that many urban farmers likes to grow vegetables,
since they predicted people in the city prefer to plant flowers rather than vegetables or fruits. This
trend indicated, there is a mind-shift among urbans.
They are expecting for total 20,000 urban farmers in 2017, hence the greater impact. EWINDO starts
to spread their demoplots in wider area, such as in Sumatra and Java, alongside with Borneo and
Celebes. They tried to stock up regularly in supermarket chain such as Superindo and Alfamidi and
other retails such as Ace Hardware and Trubus, so customer does not have to wait too long to start
their own garden. EWINDO's demoplots in Sumatra are in these cities: Pekanbaru (Riau Islands),
Bengkulu, Lampung and Payakumbuh (West Sumatra).
Challenges in Urban Farming
The hype of urban farming sometimes is temporary, while urban farming project is meant to
be a sustainable, longer term project.
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Lack of commitment. In 2015, not many people were exposed to urban farming, so very few
(or almost none) clients willingly committed to long-term urban farming projects.
Many programs are focusing on selling modules or pure marketing, instead of campaigning
the urban farming movement itself. It would be better if we begin with the education, then
comes the selling. Let consumer's curiosity and interests on urban farming issue drive the
modules sales, instead of the other way around.
There are no official regulations (city codes/regulations from the government).
Opportunities for Urban Farming
Healthy food packs service, such as selling green diet pack, Mayo diet packs. One of the
vegan restaurants in Jakarta, Burgreens, uses the crops from their own garden in Jakarta.
Pick-and-pay for fresh vegetables, located in high-population area.
Office space greening, by having a team that specialized in setting up greenery at office
building.
For personal consumption, in order to improve our nutrition intake and also money-saving. It
may not significantly give us extra income, but we could save money, that we usually spent
for buying foods.
Selling full-grown plants in containers or seedlings trays. In Nusa Tenggara Barat, they sell
full grown plants in a nice container/pot for IDR 100,000.
Educational package for public, e.g. selling workshop package on how to start seeds or urban
farming 101 (could be held in cafe or co-working space and people has to pay for it).
EWINDO's Personal Pouch
EWINDO always provide the high-quality seeds and try our best to become farmer's best friend. If
you are buying our seeds, please check on the barcode, batch and expiry date. If it passed the expiry
date, you could still plant the seeds until next year.
SIPINDO Mobile Apps
“SIPINDO” is a free app, we are teaming up with a non-profit organization PRISMA (Promoting Rural
Income through Support for Markets in Agriculture) and dedicated to all farmers in Indonesia. You
could find detailed informations on plants, plant diseases, forums and more articles in agriculture
and gardening.
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IV. Dyah Perwitosari (MURIA/Marunda Urban Resilience In Action)
MURIA aims to improve city resilience in Marunda, North Jakarta. Reasons why Marunda had
been chosen as project area:
1) Population: Marunda is a highly populated area, with approximately population of 27,116
within 10 neighborhoods.
2) Poverty: Average daily income is less than USD $2 (equals to IDR 27.000), with most of the
population are working in informal sector and fisheries.
3) Access: Lack of access to clean water and sanitation in Marunda bay area.
4) Natural disaster: The area prone to flood and tidal flood.
5) Social problem: Higher rate of child abuse.
MURIA's Main Objective
All stakeholders in Marunda will be capable to build city's resilience and turns it into a valuable asset
for a better future. The project is also open for replication in other area/city.
Expected Outputs
a) To reduce disaster risk from floods, high-tides/tidal floods and heavy rain in Marunda.
b) To enhance sustainable livelihoods
c) To improve hygiene and sanitation habit in the community
d) To strengthen the multi-stakeholders platform in facilitating the community to actively
participate in city development.
MURIA Approaches
MURIA has their unique approach “Pengelolaan Resiko Terpadu” (PeRDu or Integrated Risks
Management). To achieve city resilience, there are points to be checked:
1) “Pengurangan Resiko Bencana” (PRB) or Disaster Risk Reduction
2) “Adaptasi Perubahan Iklim” (API) or Climate Change Adaptation
3) “Pengelolaan dan Perbaikan Ekosistem” (PPE) or Ecosystem Management and Restoration
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Figure 2. MURIA Approaches (source: MURIA presentation slide “MURIA-Marunda
Urban Resilience in Action for Network Learning Event Urban Farming Initiatives in
Jakarta - The Way”, AgriProFocus, Jakarta: September 12, 2017)
Principles of PeRDu
1) Working on different timescales
2) Recognizing geographical scales
3) Strengthening institutional resilience
4) Integrating disciplines
5) Promoting community self-management
6) Stimulating learning
7) Focusing on livelihoods
8) Forming partnerships
MURIA is a multi-stakeholder platform, consists of Cordaid, KARINA (Caritas Indonesia) dan Bina
Swadaya Consultant (sister company of Trubus). They are responsible for:
Platform coordination
Program supervision
Providing strategic directions by forming platform mechanism.
Also, there are other organizations/stakeholders joining in the platform: Ford Foundation (for
funding), Humanitarian Open Streetmap Team/HOT Indonesia (For flood risk reduction, they make
Openstreetmap using Ushahidi and Drupal system), CARE International-Indonesia (for gender
issue), East West Seed Indonesia, Bina Tani Sejahtera, Spire Research Consultant (for studies &
research access), Forum PRB-API DKI Jakarta (for facilitating communication with the government
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and flood contingency plans through early warning system), government and local communities.
The disaster management & hazard online map (made with Drupal system) consists of evacuation
route, evacuation camp, etc. Similar map had been replicated by Dinas Ketahanan Pangan, Kelautan
dan Pertanian (DKPKP/Food Security, Marine and Agriculture Agency). On the other hand, the urban
farming map is using Ushahidi system.
Urban farming is one of the expected results in MURIA (“by enhancing local communities livelihood”).
They already have community-based groups who runs urban farming in Marunda, managing Trash
Bank and “Usaha Bersama Simpan Pinjam” (UBSP or Credit Union). The connection between these
three: Urban farming will need fertilizer and pesticide from Trash Bank, who manages organic waste
from the community (and turn it into organic fertilizer). Meanwhile, UBSP is managing the money
they got from people's sales to Trash Bank, so they could use it to pay rent, electricity and phone
bills and many more.
Speaking of capacity building, especially for women, nowadays more women are capable to do
advocacy and public speaking about the issue on their neighborhoods, starting from 4 groups in RT
07.
Outputs from Urban Farming in Marunda
Management of small-scale plots. In comparison to other plots, Marunda has smaller and
limited land size, not by hectares.
More urban open space/green spaces.
Use of technology in agriculture (by using hydroponic system, collaborating with HidroJak).
As mentioned earlier, MURIA has encouraged good sanitation and hygiene habit, one of their
approaches is by rainwater harvesting. Pure water is hard to find in Jakarta, even the ground water
is contaminated, then we thought of reserving rainwater. Together with community, we share our
knowledge on rainwater harvesting and counting Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) on water in Marunda.
The result was quite surprising, pH of rainwater is 7,6 and TDS 31 ppm. Comparison between
different water sources is shown on table below:
Water Source (from Kepu, Marunda)
pH TDS
Rainwater 7,6 31
PAM (local water utility) 7,1 246
Bottled mineral water 6,9 64
Well 7,0 913
The ideal TDS for drinking water based on WHO standards is between 50-100 ppm, while TDS in
water from well in Marunda reached 913 ppm. Other benefits from rainwater harvesting is the
water is free, it was not taken from ground water and no need to drill deeper underground,
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Last but not least, about MURIA's objective to strengthen multi-stakeholder platform, they are
planning to form a bigger platform to overcome Marunda's greater problem. They need more
supporting stakeholders, because it is impossible to solve the problem by KARINA itself.
Is MURIA Really An Answer to Problem of Marunda?
Poverty – enhancing livelihood by urban farming and UBSP/credit union.
Access – access to clean water by rainwater harvesting and improved sanitation and
hygiene habit by waste management.
Natural disaster – setting up flood contingency plan in collaboration with BPBD DKI Jakarta
(DKI Jakarta Regional Disaster Management Agency)
Population and social problem – the impact from MURIA is indirect to this issue.
MURIA's scope is way too small, even though it is a successful platform so far. It only covers 2 RW
(neighborhood) and they are often running out of human resource to help them with the on-site
project.
MURIA's Challenges
a) Lack of engagement and sense of belonging, in order to create a better future of Jakarta.
They shall be ready to facilitate the different intentions or hopes within the project, so they
could minimize frictions between parties (communities-government-CSO-
scholars/academics)
b) Joint-agenda has not been set out yet, since each stakeholder is still focusing on their own
project and often coming up with their ego.
c) Innovative idea for city resilience is still needed, especially when it involves stakeholders from
private sectors (esp. in search for business investment model).
Scaling Up for Greater Impact
Multi-stakeholder needs to contribute in city development plan, starting from kelurahan to city
level.
Project replication and wider range of action (for urban farming, rainwater harvesting, waste
management, disaster contingency)
Developing Jakarta spatial plan. Urban farming is nonsense, if we are not concern on city
spatial planning. Spatial planning is not only about lands, but also about available space
around the city, such as rooftop, parking lots, etc. KARINA is currently setting out an urban
farming grand design for Jakarta, highlighting on land use.
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V. Repedibo (Anies-Sandi Ex-Campaign Team Member)
Food security is crucial matters and it is not only government's problem, because in the future we
are all facing the same problem. The issue would be no longer oil and gas. Political instability may
also affect food security.
Speaking of spatial plan, the newly elected governor of Jakarta had committed to focus on urban
farming and e-Food. It will need immediate support and collaboration from multi parties. Together
we have to develop specific spatial plan and regulations regarding the issue.
As we all know, urban farming is not about selling the modules, but the most important thing is the
education of sustainable living. We have already included it in our annual 2018 budgets, but we will
certainly need your help to attain self-sufficiency in food production in Jakarta. The government
cannot do it alone.
Jakarta is the center of consumption, not production, so most of commodity price highly depends on
supplies from other cities. Therefore, we saw this as a compulsion to be self-sufficient in providing
food for ourselves. It does not mean we are cutting the distribution chain short, but the more suitable
word for it is efficiency. Nobody is overlapping others.
Perhaps provincial government has to start cooperating with many producers here, including urban
farmers and digital e-farming enthusiasts.
Discussion
Question (Q). 1. First question goes to Mr. Tri Leksono, what is the definition of urban farming? Is it
a conventional farming but done in urban area or it requires special techniques? As seen on your
presentation, it is not different from the conventional (using soils, etc.) but it is done in urban area,
because at first I thought urban farming is using different technology, built in vertical landscape, and
about optimizing small size land.
Second, Ms. Ade, as far as I'm concerned, organic product needs to be certified first, before it is
marketed with organic label. Some might say, soil in Java is already contaminated, so it will be
impossible to have organic product here. Do you have any organic certification or any reasons
behind the organic labelling on your project? From four presentations I saw earlier, yours is the only
one who shows the business side of urban farming. I wonder, how did you recruit your employee
and how much is the salary? Is it competitive enough if compared to other professions?
Mr. Ridho, does the rooftop project profitable or just accessory/aesthetic purpose? Is it feasible?
And the last question goes to Mr. Repedibo, if government has shown their support for agriculture
industries, are there any special regulations or policy for land and building tax for agricultural
purpose? Or perhaps tax decrease for agricultural land?
Answer (A).1. How to grow crops in urban farming is actually the same with the conventional one
(the seeds, medium and methods), but the problem is the plot, since we live in the city and only have
limited space. We could use our preference to grow it, either with soils in containers, half-pipes,
hydroponic, or even aquaponic.
A.1.2. About organic labeling, some says organic farming is about not using hazardous chemical
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such as pesticide or insecticide on your crops. But for me, organic farming means you revitalize the
soils in natural way. Certification is important, but we could not afford the cost of organic certification,
because it is very expensive. Each vegetable has its own certificate and we could not afford it for
every vegetable we produced.
In terms of business, our farm is 3 hectares in size, we are making our own organic fertilizer,
providing growing medium (topsoil made of mixed compost and cocopeats) and producing micro
greens and edible flowers. Those are our income source, so we could pay 5 employees. For the
farmers, each will receive IDR 1,5 million/month, a supervisor will receive IDR 3 million/month and a
fertilizer technician that we pay daily. We also provide their accommodation and meals. This amounts
match provincial minimum wage for farmers, which different from factory workers.
One of our biggest challenges is farm security. Many people that used to live in the area, often came
to our farm. Some of them felt as if they still own the land, so they could do whatever they please. In
some occasions, someone took our machines or electrical devices, but they never took farming
supplies and our crops.
Comment (C).1.2. I once heard about prohibition of selling non-certified organic products but
claiming itself as organic products. That means without certification, we could not sell it to the
market/public. Do you have any solution for this?
A. 1.2.1. Well, that is actually our problem. People need healthy food, while organic certification
sometimes inhibits people’s access to proper food. Certification leads to higher price and organic
food will be a luxurious item once again, then people will choose the chemically produced
vegetables/fruits because of the lower price. Hence we decided to sell it directly door-to-door or at
the farm.
C.1.2.2. My suggestion is, from now on you may avoid the usage of word “organic”. You could just
easily say “healthy/nutritious/fresh vegetables”.
C.1.2.3. We do not use “organic vegetables” label on Jakarta Berkebun's product, but we use the
term “healthy vegetables”.
A.1.3. Ideally, 30% from the land we had in Jakarta is meant to be open/green space, but not all of
us had it. But if you change your mindset and imagine if you turn 1% of your land into urban farming
plot, then there will be 500 hectares plots in Jakarta. If we could get this into city regulation/policy, I
guess no one will objected with the size (considerably small). There will be extra income
approximately IDR 27 billion and if you convert it to income, there will be 9,000 workers who will
receive IDR 3 million.
About the rooftop project, some of them has already turns into business and the other is still for
aesthetic purposes. It depends on the company's policy. For instance, one of our projects at PT.
Bukaka was originally built for aesthetic purpose, but now they are planning to turn it into business.
Our plots are not always for aesthetic purposes, but we built them as pleasing as it can be, so people
would interest to interact with it. At least they have to be nice to look at.
Speaking of government program, they have a similar program launched by DKPKP. Now it is about
shifting your paradigm, that government official is hard to collaborate with. They actually have a lot
of programs in urban farming in near future, urban farming enthusiast could chip in or support them.
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Q.1.3.1. Does urban farming is proven feasible in terms of business?
A.1.3.1. Yes, it does. One of our successful plots is the one in Gading Nias Apartment. We needed
3 months to grow seeds, now the plots could provide fresh vegetable supplies for market tenants at
lower ground (of the apartment). Many housing developers are interested to create such plots on
their properties, because it is profitable. Or if there is a vacant land, instead of using it as “kos-kosan”
(or townhouse/mini-condo), it could be use as urban farming land or even better you could have a
townhouse with an urban farming plots on it. In Setu, Bekasi-West Java, few houses own rooftop
urban farming plots and they use hydroponic system. Urban farming is not always remained as
hobby, but turning it into business is another level. As Mr. Repedibo said earlier, education shall be
the first priority.
A.1.4. About land and building tax that goes higher nowadays, it is like a chain reaction. We
discussed this idea with our team, owners of idle lands or space are obliged to use it as urban farming
plots, if not, they shall pay for higher taxes. But this is only an early discussion, still subject to change.
We could not decrease the land and building tax, because now there are too many stakeholders
already involved. With the new elected government, we tried to set up new regulations and asking
the property developers to involve in it. As a starter, an urban farming plots for aesthetic purpose in
new real estate is enough. We would like to ask everybody to think about a sustainable future.
C.1.4. KARINA is now developing urban farming grand design for Jakarta. Before we started working
on the plan, we defined what urban farming is. If we unsure with the definition, then how can we
work on the grand scheme. Then we got the definition “urban farming is about growing and taking
care of plants/crops and livestock in urban area, with purposes as mention below:
(1) to maintain and improve food production and food security
(2) to improve social and economic aspects
(3) to manage the sustainability of natural resource
In terms of space (not lands), together with DKPKP, Cipta Karya Lingkungan Hidup, Biro Tapem
(National Civics Bureau), Biro Hukum (Bureau of Law), BAPPEDA (Regional Development Planning
Agency), we are suggesting five areas that should have urban farming plots: in low-income housing
projects (rumah susun), idle space/lands, office buildings (government and private sectors), schools
and child-friendly integrated open spaces (RPTRA). Urban farming will be integrated in school
curriculum too.
Q.2. I'm an urban farmer and I wonder about upcoming provincial government's program for urban
farming in Jakarta, is it still supporting our initiatives? Would the “30:30 commitment” still present?
(30:30 commitment is about green building, a commitment to reduce energy and water consumption
and carbon dioxide emission from building in Jakarta up to 30% by the year of 2030)?
Q.2. Urban farming and agriculture issue will be one of our priorities in upcoming city planning. Our
strategies to support urban farming initiatives are organic fertilizer procurement, mentorship &
coaching, providing information on agricultural issues (in collaboration with digital farming portal). E-
farming platform could be an informative or commercial portal.
C.3. This is the first time I met urban farming enthusiasts and communities in Jakarta. Yesterday I
was wondering, if it possible to develop urban farming in Jakarta. Jakarta as central of consumptions,
heavily relied on West and Central Java as main food producers. The government has two big
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problems: inflation and food security. For instance, the last time the price of chili peppers was
rocketed high, it was all over the news. But I realized, the weakness is on food logistic, there is no
central of food distribution or regulation about it. In 2005 Jakarta had a sub terminal for agribusiness
products, but it was no longer functioning.
As for now, we have to figure out on how to bring urban farming as an initiative, as well as business
model. If we took it only as initiative without business as “fuel”, it would be stagnant and vice versa.
If we took it only for business/profits without any value, probably it will not sell well. The newly elected
government is highly concern on price fluctuation and inflation, especially for commodity such as
tomato, shallot and chili. Those are spices and vegetables that could easily grow in lowlands and
city. I guess, urban farmers here are experts on this field.
54% of organic waste from is now become a problem too in Jakarta. Many vegetable or fruit
producers are carrying the whole thing along with their harvested crops. “Sub Terminal Agribisnis”
(STA or sub terminal for agribusiness) regulated this kind of waste, by limiting them from entering
the market. As all STAs are no longer operating nowadays, there is no terminal to control and
supervise the waste. I am suggesting to re-open the STA and urban farmers community could ensure
there is an access to it.
Q.4. Please let me introduce myself, I'm here as a representative of Komunitas Kata Tanah, that had
just been formed last Saturday and it consists of government officials, private sectors, media,
hobbyists and scholars. We decided to join the forum today to widen our networks. I got questions
for Mr. Tri Leksono & Mr. Repedibo. With two years experience in Ridwan Kamil's program
“Kampung Berkebun”, an urban farming initiative in RW (neighborhood) levels in Bandung, I reached
a conclusion that urban farming is often taken as short-term or temporary project by local
communities. The government actually had allocated budget for the maintenance, but no one is
really using it.
An additional note to Mr. Harris, what if we developed a urban farming educational plan for
commercial use. From my experience, people would only harvest their crops 1-2 times, before they
gradually forgot. At least the education program would improve the sustainability of urban farms.
A.4. It happens all the time, urban agricultures are not always sustainable, because most of the time,
it was manage by community or person. In “Jakarta Berkebun”, we attempt to hold routine activities,
but in the same time we realized, we could not force them to participate in all of our activities. One
of the plus point of urban farming initiative in Bandung is a top-down government program, which
could be an enforcement point for the local community. The mayor has given the 'rod and baits', but
the community has a minimal willingness to continue the project. They only aim for the 'fish' (or
harvested product/commercial benefit, in urban farming context). It is personal choice, whether you
are going to continue or not.
A.4.1. Basically I agree, that education on urban farming had became the first priority, but we'd better
not forget the most important thing: commitment. We also need commitment from the government
and collaboration between private sectors and farmers. In the newly elected governor's programs,
he already included multi-stakeholders collaboration for food security in Jakarta, so each
stakeholders really understand what the program's objectives and expected outcomes.
We no longer have time for discussion, because it only matters of days. One of the objectives on
“First 100 days of Anies-Sandi” is food price stabilization, so we will need support from each
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stakeholder. We are going to be more proactive, with the help of HIPMI (Indonesian Young
Entrepreneurs Association
A.4.2. Speaking of education, I agree with Mr. Repedibo.
Q.5. I am a member of Himpunan Pengusaha Muda Indonesia (HIPMI or Indonesian Young
Entrepreneurs Association) as the Head of Department of Agribusiness. Nowadays, bottom-up
program is highly on demand, while top-down program is no longer wanted. We are planning a
community roadshow, to gather opinions about urban farming from communities or enthusiasts. Now
I'm asking the audience here, what are your suggestions for positioning of HIPMI within the issue?
I also would like to enlist other urban farming issues, aside from food security, for instance farmer
regeneration. Do you have any other crucial issues, which require clear action plan and further
collaboration?
A.5. Price stability, please do not set it too low or high. The higher the price is, the more people
interested in stealing it. Fair price is all we need. If the price is higher because of natural disturbance
(change of seasons, etc.), it is a common thing. As long as we reach turnover points or even had a
bit profit from our sales, we will be just fine.
C.5.1 If Jakarta always depends on supplies from other cities, then it will never sustain itself. For
price stability, how about cooperating with producer at the other regions to keep each other's eye on
production stability.
C.5.2. About food supplies from farmers, nowadays Superindo has continuous supply from farmers.
They are facing the same marketing challenge, it is hard to decide to whom and where they should
sell their products. Not all middlemen are evil, many of them are nice and practicing fair trade to
farmers. If we are scattered, i.e. each of us making our own urban farming and trade system, then it
will be harder for the modern market to collect our products. It would be better if it is centralized.
Andro’s question earlier made us think of a professional and well-structured depository system and
warehouse to circulate harvests from urban farmers. On that level, they are no longer thinking about
soil’s fertility, but things like terms of payment. We all know that modern market’s term of payment
is 3-weeks up to 1 month. Superindo has an agreement with BNI (Bank Negara Indonesia –
Indonesian State Bank) to pay the farmer within 5 days, while Superindo will pay to BNI (the amount
they paid to farmers) with normal term of payment (3 weeks). It is like BNI gives temporary loan for
Superindo to pay the farmers, so it will not disturb the Superindo’s financial cycle. The 3-weeks
payment is more profitable for Superindo, but not for the farmer.
There shall be a division of labour, there are urban farmers and also people who takes care of the
business and marketing.
C.5.3. In farming business, the process itself is pretty complicated, there should be someone whose
role is a risk-taker for farming utilities or for someone who starts up the business.
Q.6. Recently I heard about the positive point of organic certification, but somehow it becomes a
boomerang for small-scale farmers or farmer who has limited access to financial resource and the
certification process is severely long. Are there any other options to show the values of each farmer’s
product, e.g. how organic their crops are?
Why we thought so? We learnt form Rainwater Harvesting in Marunda. We got used to the fact, that
mineral water (or bottled mineral water) is good, but we actually have no idea at all what is inside.
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Through the tests ran by local community, we discovered that mineral water is not better than the
other source. The pH and TDS level is not that pure or good as stated in commercial. Local
community has prior knowledge how to test the water, so they could spread it to other community or
public. It is not only about selling purified water. It is also about to change people’s behavior, to be
more critical about things they consumed. In relation to urban farming, perhaps we could do similar
things, as substitute for organic certification. People will learn how to differentiate the quality of foods
especially the organic ones, so they will have no doubt in consuming it.
A.6. As far as I know, for organic farming there are many criteria to be fulfilled. Including the water
we used to water our field and the neighbouring farm. If the neighbouring farm is non-organic/using
chemical, wind could carry residue of hazardous chemical to our farm. This little thing would lead us
to failure to get organic certificate. Other things we could do, is simply by branding our product with
other names (that is not including “organic”). Organic certification is not an easy task and it has
ratings too (1-5 stars). Example: for 5-stars rate, distance between organic farm and conventional
farm should be at least 30 km.
C.6.1. We need more research papers or data about water and other farming needs regarding the
organic farming. We need it to check whether our farming practice is already in organic farming
corridors or not.
C.6.2. Speaking of organic rice, there are groups in Boyolali, Central Java under CSO namely PEKO
and also groups in East Nusa Tenggara. PEKO is providing their groups an international organic
certification for the products. They paid for it in more economical price and the farmer groups are
annually supervised. This initiative turns Boyolali into an area for organic food producer and the local
government finally decided to buy organic certification by SNI (Indonesian National Standard,
regulated by National Standardization Agency of Indonesia). The certification process consists of 5
years turning conventional farm into an organic one. Therefore, it is possible for local government to
buy organic certification.
About the organic label, perhaps we could learn from story of women network in Solo who regularly
sharing their knowledge and marketing organic products (organic rice, etc.), after the government
has confiscated self-proclaiming organic rice and vegetable producer, which later proven for
marketing false organic product.
C.6.3. The community will eventually learn about organic farming products and how their food is
made. Probably we need an educational center or information center, with experts who could provide
us knowledge about organic products, the process and nutritional value in it, as well as knowledge
to spot an organic product on the market.
Before it is exported, our latest harvest from Pengalengan, West Java, had been tested locally for
pesticide and declared as pesticide-free. But they could not get into Singaporean market, since they
found traces of pesticide there. What we learned from this experience, each country has different
ppm standards for pesticides. So we have to really pay attention to it if we are targeting export
market.
Q.6.4. To measure the pesticide level like that, is the tool similar to TDS meter?
A.6.4 Yes, it is similar to TDS meter.
C.7. If we are going to collaborate with certification agency, the (certification) price might be not as
high as the usual. This will work out well if there is a revenue system. At the beginning the profits
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might seems not significant, but if there were a system as safety net (to keep the financial stability),
I think the company will keep investing on the project.
There are two things to follow up: about the collaboration with private sector (and organic certification
agency) and knowledge sharing between us.
C.7.1. There is a company, who already has a certification system. They have organic rice varieties
such as Pandan Wangi, Rojo Lele or black rice. For export market, they mixed these varieties. This
could be an idea for business model, urban farmers produces crops, and they could send it to
company with certification system to get their products certificated. Therefore, they could export their
products.
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Urban Farming from Four Aspects
Participants will write their comments or hopes on urban farming on Post-It Notes (provided)
and put it on 4 columns on the wall, categorized by these aspects: Production Method and
Technology, Production Capacity and Market, Sustainability, Identifying Needs of Supports)
(Documentation of Participants’ Notes)
Production Method and
Technology
Using verticulture method for limited space/land
Good agricultural practice in urban farming, since the
farming product is risk sensitive
Hydroponic
Verticulture
Education of good agricultural practice
Building a pergola (or climbing plants or vines)
Harvest on demand, online/internet integrated farming
Depends on space and land size, could be hydroponic or
organic.
Seeking for other high-value commodity
Farmer will be directly connected with middleman
Hydroponic is one of the suitable methods for urban
farming, since it only requires smaller space and could be
done vertically.
Using high-yield variety seeds to achieve higher
productivity.
We need apps like Uber (or Go-Jek in Indonesia) that
could seek other’s help to take care of our plant when we
are away. We could name them as Go-Garden, for
instance.
Methods in urban farming are mostly depends on
availability of space/land, water, growing media and other
planting factors. They could be adjusted on owner’s
preference too, either it is organic, verticulture, hydroponics
or even aquaponics.
Hydroponics.
Rooftop urban farming
Modern farming such as using hydroponics or verticulture
system.
Rotating the plants, so we could harvest it in daily basis.
Production Capacity and Market
Each neighborhood (or RW) is producing food for
themselves
Collaborating with local IT-company to develop internet
solution for urban farming initiatives.
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Each house has at least an urban farming plot and each
time they harvest, they would gather it, to fulfill their needs
and sell the rest at the nearest market.
Each household produces food and they could collect in a
central depository in the neighborhood.
Urban farmer shall be connected with each other and
produce together. The harvests could be store in
warehouse/depository.
Use of technology to increase productivity (precision
farming)
A house with 2x2 m2 land could grow their own food and
sell the excess to their neighbor.
One village, one product.
Farmers-based distribution central.
Forming a community of producers.
Creating an innovative and creative business model for
urban farming initiative.
Product diversification by providing more varieties of
seeds, including weeds.
Production should be coordinated, communal, not
individual.
One commodity per neighborhood.
Building a strong partnership.
Sustainability System for supervision, evaluation and transparency.
Collaboration between stakeholders.
Workshop.
Educational garden/farm plot.
Socialization & farmer's market.
Market sustainability.
Socialization and internet-based campaign (so it gets viral).
Bounding between farmers
Farmer's market
Incentives for urban farmers
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Seeking for wider space or land.
Marketing via networking, start-ups or online business.
Sustainability will be achieved, if there was a system,
coordinated by professionals and supervised by the
government.
Socialization and urban farming demo event in schools.
Technical assistance form experts.
Multi-stakeholders discussion and collaborations for urban
farming issues.
An organization to ensure the quality of harvest (as quality
controller)
An organization to gather or distribute products to end-user
with minimum margin.
Sustainable market access.
Education
Research
Education, assistance and evaluation.
Continuous assistance and development in urban farming
development.
Farmers regeneration
Training and motivational push.
Support from areas that supplies food for Jakarta.
Establishing an information portal for research in how to
increase production.
Needs of Support Knowledge sharing with community and institutions.
Private sectors (through CSR)
Government shall have regulation about urban farming,
e.g. 1% of the land/space we own, should be turns into
urban farming plot.
Continuous supervision.
Affordable organic certification facility.
Community that connected with government, NGO,
financial and academics/educational institution.
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Support from provincial/local government in order to make
urban farming happens, such as Regional Plantation
Agency and Ministry of Trade.
Affordable seeds.
Capital supports
Sharing of innovation within the community.
Incentive for active urban farmers/urban farming
enthusiasts.
Supports from private sectors and government to be off-
taker of farming products, such as Bulog (Badan Urusan
Logistik or Indonesian Bureau of Logistics), restaurant,
café and hotel.
Micro-finance access.
Involvement of ‘Himpunan Mahasiswa Pertanian Indonesia’
(or Association of Indonesian Agricultural Students.
Academics/researchers.
Involvement (active) from wider audience/public.
Involving ‘Karang Taruna’ (or local youth community) as
human resource
A solid and active multi-stakeholder platform.
Intensive assistance from related government agency or
office.
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Networking Session
This session divided in 3 parts:
1. Pitching/matchmaking (based on prior registration forms)
2. Networking session
3. Online Platform Presentation
Pitching Session
(Each registered participants has 2-3 minutes to promote themselves, their organizations, initiatives,
products or service. They could also announce if they require service, products or support from
others. There will be 2 slot and each slots will consist of 3 participants.)
YSEALI (Putra Aditya – Embassy of the United States of America)
I’m going to promote the youth program called Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiatives (YSEALI).
YSEALI is a platform for Southeast Asia youth between 18-35 years old, who has developed
initiatives in their own community. Our 4 big themes are education, sustainable development, civic
engagement & economic empowerment. There are many offerings available within the platform, from
1-month academic and professional exchanges in the U.S, thematic regional workshop in Southeast
Asian countries, and project grants competition. We also offer wide-range network to friends in
Indonesia and other ASEAN countries, who has similar interests, to do something together.
Thomas Pandu (MIFA)
Together with my team, we are recently developing an affordable urban-farming business model.
Our visions-missions are: first, to make organic food more affordable; second, to develop urban
farming system to be more urban area friendly and requires less maintenance. Starting from planting
the seeds to harvest time, we don’t even need to touch them and could be grown organically. We
could test its organic factors, since we tried to limit the disturbing factor that usually appeared in
ordinary organic farming. Perhaps among us there are starter, who is not ready for maintaining
bigger plot size (e.g. measuring soil’s acidity, temperature, adjusting soil’s need, etc.), what we are
developing now might be the answer. We tried to be as simple as possible, all we have to do is
waiting for harvest time.
As we are still a start-up project, we still need more feedbacks from you (customer’s experiences).
Today, for the first seven persons who came up to me, there are modules with special price (original
price is IDR 350,000, special price for today IDR 100,000). To grow seeds in the module, you only
need to water it, no need to fertilize and other high-maintenance stuff or treatments.
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Arie (‘Institut Pertanian Bogor’ or Bogor Agricultural University Alumna)
Now I’m on Creative Agriculture Management business, focusing on education of urban farming with
hydroponic system. Together with team, we held knowledge-sharing session in school and
universities. We are not only sharing about urban farming, but also trash management/trash
recycling (especially on styrofoam and plastic containers). We sell hydroponic modules with
affordable price, also we provide the hydroponic growing medium (rockwool, etc.) as well as its
nutrition supplies (that we made ourselves).
Rosemary
I came from community of housewives in a Buddhist organization. I am actively contributing in
‘Koperasi Maju” in Puri Kembangan, West Jakarta. This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, September
16-17, 2017, we will hold an expo and workshops on farming. It is open for public and free of charge.
We invited people from Trubus (well-known agricultural magazine in Indonesia) and its sister
company and many more.
Yudha (Yayasan Rumah Energi)
‘Yayasan Rumah Energi’ (YRE) is an organization formed by Hivos to continue the BIRU program
(Biogas Rumah or Indonesian Domestic Biogas Programme). BIRU aims to promote the use of
biodigesters as a local and sustainable energy. Biodigesters are using biogas from cattle and it is a
good source of organic fertilizers. There are 10 provinces since we started in 2009 namely Lampung,
Banten, Yogyakarta, East Java, Bali, Lombok, West Sumbawa, Sumba and South Celebes. We
facilitate and distribute products from our biogas user in form of organic fertilizer to be used in urban
farming. Until now, in Jakarta there are not so many people use this biogas system, since it requires
areas near livestock farm (cattle, chickens, quails) and lemna plants (duckweed).
The nearest BIRU project site from Jakarta is in Bekasi. We are still establishing more spots, so they
could provide energy needs in Jakarta. If you have business or partners in soya bean processing
industry (e.g. tofu industry) and they need to install biogas system, you could contact YRE.
Promoting Online Platform
Maula Paramitha Wulandaru
AgriProFocus is a multi-stakeholder network in the agricultural sector consisting of farmer
entrepreneurs, private sector enterprises, CSOs, knowledge institutions, government officials.
AgriProFocus network members collaborate to strengthen the position of farmers and other agri-
entrepreneurs in agricultural value chains. We use an online platform to make knowledge-sharing
and interaction process easier for each AgriProFocus members in all around the globe. We shared
our discussion/meeting notes and materials from trusted resource within the platform too. Please do
sign up, if you are interested.
(Mitha demonstrated the sign-up process and AgriProFocus site walkthrough)
If you already signed up, you will be lead automatically to “Pool of Expert”. You could also build your
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own sub-web for your organizations. If you are going to promote your event, you could easily fill in
the “Event” section and it will be automatically sent as promotional e-mail blast to all AgriProFocus
users. We have “Market Place” section too, where you could promote your products or services, and
we are helping you to get wider audience by spreading the news through our newsletter mailing list.
Within the platforms, there are thousands of contacts of worldwide AgriProfocus networks and it is
accessible for all users.
On the site we also provide agricultural information, for instance, a marketplace for Gayo (Aceh)
coffee, published reports, job vacancies, fellowships and scholarships info and open call for grants.
Also, we published latest agricultural news, including events by AgriProFocus Network, such as our
latest campaign to promote farmers regeneration through Young Farmer Ambassador.
Actually we could do almost anything within AgriProFocus platform. For instance after this event, we
could establish a coalition to create an ideal urban farming environment in the city. In AgriProFocus,
we called it member coalition (formerly known as Innovation Community).
Closing
We are waiting for your your participation on AgriProFocus online platform, please sign up and join
us.
If you are interested in other participants program, we have their brochures up front. Thank you for
your participation in today's networking and learning event, hope it gives you better understanding
at urban farming issue.