pengetahuanhijau.com - One morning in August 25 was a schedule for an official trip of River Pollution Control Team of West Nusa Tenggara Province to one of the location receiving technical assistance by Hivos-Yayasan Rumah Energi (YRE) in Central Lombok Regency precisely at Bare Julat Village, Jongga Subdistrict. The intended location was Loang Sawak Hamlet. There are 50 household of cattle farmer in the hamlet processing and utilising animal waste/manure to one of household level fuel source (biogas). Some of them have even utilised bioslurry as fertilisers both in the liquid as well as in the solid forms. Furthermore, they have even used bioslurry as a media for duckweed culture which will be used to feed fish and duck.

The above practices were the main attraction for river pollution control team behind the official visit to the location. Under the companion of Pak Ali Ikhsan and Pak Umar from Yayasan Rumah Energi (YRE), the whole team members were treading the dykes of the fish ponds on their lefts and rights with several smaller ponds as a place of duckweed cultivation while listening to the explanation of the function and utilisation of the duckweed. Lemna or duckweed is known locallya as kembang aik is one of a relatively high source protein for cattles. In addition to its high protein content, duckweed grows very fast and therefore it is easily cultivated.

Soon, the team led by Pak Kusnadi arrived in the land belonging to one of biogas users. His name is Haji Muslim. There the monitoring team shared information on waste/manure processing. Starting from the reactor construction, monitor processing into biogas up to the utilisation of bioslurry which is already applied to the horticultures. On that 1,400-square meter land, there is one unit of biogas reactor, eventhough he himself does not own a single cattle. However, to fill in the reactor, he simply accommodate the manures from his neighbours’ cattle shades. The farmer who happens also an educator at an elementary school develops an agriculture which is integrated with poultry farming. There are a number of vegetable and fruit plants. Green, healthy, and well-maintained. There are also fish ponds and catfish ponds surrounding the tiny house which looks cozy at the corner of the land and duck coop near the biogas reactor. “All of these vegetation rely on bioslurry.

Eventhough it is not one hundred percent organic, the use of bioslurry provides significant impact on the plant growth. Over there, it was only one year and four months since the planting season began. However, I have managed to harvest the plants twice,” Haji Muslim explained while pointing at tens of tangerine trees belonging to him which were bearing plenty of fruits.
For Haji Muslim, it sounds rather strange to see cattle farmers who were still thinking of building biogas reactor as they will enjoy the benefits for themselves. Eventhough business opportunities through bioslurry are wide open, he has not been able to claim such opportunities. Rural living does not perceve anything solely on its economic benefits. Satisfaction of knowing that you can help your neighbours, families, or friends are equally important. For example is distributing chilli seedlings he cultivated using bioslurry as culture media to others. The method has even spreaded to the neighbouring village and it is free of charge. Anyone interested can directly visit his rice paddy, explained the land owners who was approaching his retirement age.

“This is incredible, beyond our expectations. There are plenty of lessons and information that we acquired. It is obvious that every pollution prevention and controlling measures should be integrated with utilisation,” revealed Bapak Enha Kusnadi S.Hut, MM, as the Team Leader who is also the Head of Forestry Sub Department at Local Secretariat of West Nusa Tenggara Province. The team he led was a cross-sector team made up of both structural and organisational local administrative within the Provincial Administrative of West Nusa Tenggara such as Regional Planning and Development Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Agency, Office of Agriculture, Office of Animal Husbandry, Office of Estate Crop, Office of Environment and Forestry, as well as Local Secretariat.

The official visit was undertaken to directly witness efforts made by the community and village administration in preventing and controlling various forms of river pollution. One of the forms of pollution normally found on cattle farming sector is discharging the manures directly to the river. This action of course leads to water, ground, as well as air pollutions.
“Various information and lesson we obtain here will of course be review consideration and feedback for us in making the policies to control river pollution,” Pak Kusnadi stated at the end of the visit. He added that the visit was equally important as a relationship has been established between the provincial, regency, subdistrict, and village-level administratives with the people. Especially with the NGOs which have delivered the education and intensive assistance to the people to improve the environmental preservation.

(Source: http://www.pengetahuanhijau.com/berita/dari-kunjungan-kerja-ke-kebijakan)