Wilfridus Ngala, the mayor of Inegena, A village nestled in the central hills of Ngada District on Flores Island had a vision – to transform its community of 1,100 people, most of them small farmers, into an agricultural powerhouse with its own food industry and exports.
Mayor Ngala’s idea may sound far-fetched, but a year after Inegena became a recipient of support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFADa UN agency) and the Indonesian Ministry of Villages, Less Favored Regions Development and Transmigration, there are many clear signs of progress in his community, with crops and vegetables being grown on formerly barren land and chickens grazing along the formerly tranquil Village streets cluck.
“Our village now has a future and many young people have decided to stay and get involved in the new agricultural projects,” says Viktorinus Roja, who learned how to keep chickens last year and was elected head of the village farm association. “A year ago I was thinking about going to a city to find work. But I’ve decided to give Mayor Ngala a chance.”
Build long-term economic success
Inegena is one of 1,110 Indonesian villages supported by IFAD’s Integrated Village Economic Transformation Program (TEKAD), which is jointly funded by the UN agency and the Indonesian government. In Ngada District, 20 communities are benefiting from TEKAD experts who help villagers draft business plans and long-term development strategies, and apply for funding to the 68 billion Indonesian rupiah (US$4.3 billion) national village fund, which is administered by the Village Ministry is managed . Funding usually comes in the form of a loan that the government and the villages have to repay from the proceeds of increased economic activity.
“Money is often not an issue in rural Indonesia. Insightful planning is the basis for long-term economic success,” says Harlina Sulistroyini, director general for economic development and investment at the Ministry of Villages. “Places like Inegena are proof of what can be achieved with small means and big ideas together.”
The key, adds Ms. Sulistroyini, is for communities to focus on a single product where they have an economic and market advantage. In the case of Inegena, the main trading commodity and future cash crop is candlenuts, which are used as raw materials in the cosmetics and pharmaceuticals industries.
With the support of TEKAD, the villagers drew up a business plan to improve the harvest and start processing candlenuts locally. Until recently, each farmer harvested the nuts, cleaned them by hand and brought them to the local market, but now they’re teaming up to get better deals from buyers. Equally important, villagers no longer have to make the hour-long drive into town and spend hours selling their produce—buyers now come to the village.
The next step involves buying a machine, with ministry support, to replace the manual labor now required to shell the nuts and funding a machine to extract the nut oil, says Ms Sulistroyini.
Increase production, find markets
By selling the oil instead of the nuts, the village can keep more of the income from the candlenut value chain. “We want to support villages with the vision and the potential,” she adds. “Inegena is a small village, but one day it will become international – as long as they keep the focus.”
The villagers plan to have the oil extraction machine on site by the end of 2023 so that they can process the candlenuts harvested in neighboring villages. “We plan to become a local center,” says Mayor Ngala.
While the village’s economic transformation plan focuses on candlenuts, there are other products where locals see potential: they used Rp 152 million (US$9,600) from the Village Fund to increase the village’s acreage by 50 percent; Fields formerly filled with shrubs have been converted into horticultural plantations, and most of the chillies, eggplants and cabbages grown are sold at the local market.
Local farmer Bonevasius Redo has already managed to expand his bamboo house with the extra income he earned during the last growing season. Thanks to the new opportunities at home, he was able to move back to Inegana after many years working on an oil palm plantation in Borneo. He now earns around five million rupiah (US$320) a month, compared to just three million (US$190) at the plantation. “We can make a living here now by growing vegetables and chili,” he says.
Chickens and Food Security
The goal of the chicken program, which convinced Mr. Roja not to move to the city, is primarily to improve food security and nutrition by providing the community with a stable protein intake, as well as revenue from selling the surplus. There are now 2,400 chickens in the village, up from a few hundred two years ago.
TEKAD’s goal is to provide economic transformation assistance to interested villages in the five poorest provinces of Indonesia, including East Nusa Tenggara, where Inegena is located. By hiring and training local facilitators to work with villagers, the program ensures communities are committed to long-term planning.
“In order to lay the foundations for sustainable development, villages need to spend money on projects that have long-lasting economic benefits, rather than simply spending village fund money every year ad hoc initiatives,” says Anissa Pratiwi, Country Program Officer at IFAD’s Jakarta office. “This fundamental shift in approach requires learning and capacity building at the village level.”
The change is urgently needed as only 10 percent of the Village Fund is currently used to support rural economic development. TEKAD is helping to change this by improving the technical skills and market intelligence available to villages, along with guidance and oversight in planning and implementing projects. The villages it works in have a combined population of over 1.6 million — making it one of the widest-ranging UN projects in Indonesia.
“We use TEKAD not only to help the participating villages develop, but also to set an example of long-term, sustainable economic development for other communities in these regions,” says Ms. Sulistroyini.
