Hartoyo, a farmer who lives on the slope of a hill in the Imogiri district of the Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, believes that nature works on its own to ensure the balance of the ecosystem and knowledge he gained from a course in pest control has proven just that.
With this knowledge, he knows that not all pests are harmful and need to be destroyed. But instead of turning to dangerous chemicals, he believes in nature's way.
"So I tried to find a simple method that could be used as pest control without destroying the food chain."
Hartoyo said that some pests serve as the food for other pests and are the natural enemies of each other.
"Due to the extensive use of pesticides, the population of pests has sharply dwindled, creating imbalances in the food chain, making plant diseases appear to be uncontrollable," said the 43-year-old farmer.
He took advantage of the knowledge he obtained during an integrated pest control course in 1994 and started to collect various kinds of leaves, roots, fruits, twigs and flowers from different plants around his neighborhood.
"I smelled them one by one. Based on the smells, I tried to formulate something which would destroy certain pests. I did it by trial and error," he said.
Soon, he had made dozens of "recipes" of different kinds of pesticides to control various plant diseases.
It took him up to three months to make each pesticide - which he then tested on rice, chili, bean and other crops.
He also got help from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta to find out about the ingredients he used to make the so-called biopesticides.
At first, he used the pesticides only on his own fields. "I didn't dare to tell others to use it. I let them judge for themselves after my harvest," he said.
Hartoyo began to see results after using the biopesticide for three or four seasons. Other farmers noticed what he was doing and followed in his footsteps.
Even though he has dozens of biopesticide recipes for controlling almost any pests including caterpillars, rice bugs (wereng), rats and molds, Hartoyo never gives ready-to-use pesticides, or his recipes, to farmers.
"I prefer to empower the farmers by asking them to learn together how to control the pests which hit their fields. I never simply bring the recipes and just show them how to use them.
"We learn together in the field, observing the pests in order to know what they do and do not eat, how they eat, how they develop and so on. It takes a week to complete the observation," Hartoyo, who was asked to assist farmers by the local administration in 1997, said.
He said that the move inspired the farmers and encouraged them to be creative in finding more effective ways to control pests.
"The pests are really dynamic and have different behavior depending on the season. So the bio pesticides should be adjusted according to the pests' situation...," he said.
In dealing with changing nature, he said that pests should be taken care of with different pesticides - to prevent them from growing immune to any one formula.
He firmly believes that, since pests do become immune, it is necessary to increase the pest's natural enemies.
"This means we encourage the food chain, where the snake eats the rat, the eagle eats the snake, the eagle then dies and goes back into the earth. This is our aim, to create a balance between pests and predators," Hartoyo, who is supported by the Yogyakarta Technology Research Center for Plant Diseases as well as the UGM, said.
Despite his achievement, Hartoyo has no intention of commercializing his recipes and selling biopesticides, saying that doing so could make the farmers passive and dependent.
He wants the contrary - empowered, creative and independent farmers.
"In my house, I am available to farmers 24 hours a day. We discuss and share problems related to farming. In short, let's learn together to become empowered and independent," said the man, who is assisting farmers' groups in various areas in the Bantul regency.
Hartoyo also wants to see an improved and healthier natural environment.
His task was not easy. His efforts to educate farmers began in 1995 but it was not until 2003 that the farmers responded positively - showing awareness of the need to be friends with nature.
"If we are willing to approach and observe nature, we will see that it is sick. If we live in a sick environment, we will automatically fall ill. There are farmers who only think about the yields. But if the land is sick, the products will also be bad and people who consume them will be sick as well," he said.
He noted that there were many kinds of unusual diseases caused by the use of chemical pesticides.
"There is a need to create a healthy environment, healthy food. If the people are healthy, they will have healthy minds, too," Hartoyo said.
He dreams of environmentally-friendly farms that produce safe products and of conserving the environment so a better natural world is left for their children.
"If we make friends with nature, we will receive rewards from it, and vice versa."
