Women Farmers Struggle Amid Search for Peatland Solutions

KOMPAS/DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO

Made Miri (60), a farmer from Bali who has lived in Kapuas, Central Kalimantan for decades, stands in the middle of his cassava plantation, on Sunday (20/9/2020). Apart from cassava they also plant pineapples. Everything is processed without burning.

Developing the Central Kalimantan peatlands without resorting to slash-and-burn agriculture is not an easy task. Reluctant to give up on the situation, women farmers in the inland regions of Central Kalimantan have been innovating their own solutions.

Sri Maryati, 44, and Jiyarti, 36, were busy making fried dragon fruit sticks on Wednesday afternoon (23/9/2020) on the terrace of a wooden house in Kandan village of Kotawaringin Timur regency, Central Kalimantan. The dough was made from wheat flour, tapioca flour, and various spices, to which dragon fruit pulp had been added. The dragon fruit they used were grade-two fruits, the prices of which had been falling recently.