Poverty Watch: NTB’s ‘Million Cows’ program helps poor

For underprivileged farmhands who lack their own land, raising cattle is a way to make money. However limited capital and government assistance means not everyone can buy a cow.

In response, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) administration launched the “Land of A Million Cows” (BBS)program in 2009, which has spurred province’s cattle population and reduced the poverty rate.

In Sembung, West Lombok, the collective cattle raising program has helped shore up the local economy.

“Farmhands are typically hired only for the planting and harvest seasons because they don’t own land, but the cattle program can help them,” Ali Syahid, 40, leader of the Patuh Angen “Million Cows” collective in Sembung told The Jakarta Post.

The Patuh Angen group, which was founded in 2006 with 80 members, received 85 head of cattle from the regency and provincial administrations.

“A cow that has given birth is given to another community under a rotating assistance system” Ali said.

The Patuh Angen collective now has 115 members and has raised 230 head of cattle under the program. The group has formed its own cooperative and has issued its members dividends.

“This year we received 36 cows under the BBS program and we plan to distribute them to another community which has never received cattle,” said Ali.

For Patuh Angen resident Nuraini, raising cattle is a blessing for her and her four children. She started breeding cows 2006 under the “Million Cows” program and now has two cows and two bulls, including a newborn calf, she said.

“I bought my first cow from the government for Rp 4 million [US$450] which I paid for over four years. They have prospered and I have sold some of them to pay for my children’s school and house repairs,” Nuraini said.

Members of the Pida Lestari farming community in Sintung village, Pringgata, Central Lombok, have also raised cattle under the program — which as kept unemployment down and limited the number of residents migrating to Malaysia in search of work, a resident said.

“Most of us were farmhands before and many people had to go to Malaysia to work due to limited em opportunities, but thanks to the collective cattle pens, that could be curbed,” group secretary Ahmad Saeful told the Post.

The Pida Lestari collective farm has 95 members and 404 head of cattle: 105 cows, seven bulls and 292 calves. The farm started with 30 members and 60 cows in 2002.

They can also earn a reasonable sum from selling cow dung for Rp 3,000 per sack, he said.