Sri Rusmiyati looked satisfied as she examined her vegetables in the front yard of her house in Banyudono village, Dukun district, Magelang regency, Central Java, they seemed to be growing very well.

Only a few years ago she could hardly grow anything in her yard as the soil was too poor for planting.

'€œThe soil has now been fertilized using organic fertilizers; animal dung and compost,'€ Sri told The Jakarta Post at her house recently.

So there she was with her new activity, conducting eco-friendly organic farming in the yard of her house, using homemade natural pesticide and organic fertilizers, mostly for her own consumption.

'€œI used to spend some Rp 300,000 [US$22.17] per month to buy vegetables for the family. Now I just pick them from our own yard,'€ said the retired midwife, adding that organic vegetables also tasted better.

Previously Sri knew nothing about farming. Thanks to the supervision provided by Aisyiyah activists on organic farming in her region, Sri and other housewives in her village started organic farming.

Some 25 activists from Aisyiyah'€™s Dukun branch were deployed to provide supervision of organic farming in the village. They encouraged housewives there to make use of their wasteland for organic farming.

Islamiyatun Rokhmah, a public policy advocate in Aisyiyah'€™s Research and Development Institution (LPP), said that organic farming was initially part of the organization'€™s livelihood program conducted in the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Merapi in 2010.

The program was aimed at restoring the people'€™s economy, which was badly affected by the eruption. '€œWe also wanted to implement contextual preaching, that farming is also a form of religious service,'€ Islamiyatun said.

Organic farming was chosen, she said, because the practice did not damage the soil'€™s fertility in the way farming using chemical fertilizers did. The practice was expected to help reduce the intensity of the use of chemical fertilizers, which still predominate in the region.

'€œIslam teaches us not to damage nature,'€ she said.

She added that the organic farming program in Dukun was a pilot project that would be further implemented in other regions including in Takalar, South Sulawesi, and most probably to be followed by Cianjur and Cirebon, West Java.

Chairwoman of Aisyiyah'€™s Dukun district branch, Siti Asiyah, said housewives who did not have available land were encouraged to conduct organic farming by using polythene bags.

Siti herself planted vegetables in her backyard for her family'€™s own consumption. She said such activities had empowered women in the region and enabled them to provide healthy vegetables for their families.

 In the long run, if possible, they could even produce a surplus to sell in the market, she added.

'€œWomen have to be empowered but our greatest challenge right now is capital to start with, and probably their other activities,'€ said Siti who is a retired civil servant.

For the time being, she said, the women were encouraged to sell their produce among Aisyiyah'€™s members in every meeting they held.

Siti said that encouraging farmers to also practice organic farming in their fields was really challenging, as organic farming took a longer time to harvest. '€œWe have been really slow in encouraging this,'€ she said.

Among only a few farmers in Dukun who had already switched to organic farming was Eka Haniati of Ngadipuro village. Her father, Sutopo, had also started reducing the use of chemical fertilizers in his rice fields.

'€œIf grown by using organic fertilizers purple tubers, for example, can be stored for up to five months. Using chemical fertilizers, they normally only last a month,'€ Eka said.

'€“ Photos by JP/Bambang Muryanto

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