Hundreds of villagers in Fatuketi and Dualaus villages, Kakuluk Mesak district, Belu regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), located on the border between Indonesia and Timor Leste, recently harvested shallots cultivated on 12.8 hectares of previously idle land.

On Tuesday, Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister Eko Putro Sandjojo witnessed the first harvest with Belu Regent Willifrodus Lay and the head of the NTT office of Bank Indonesia (BI), Naek Tigor Sinaga.

Willifrodus said the central bank had provided assistance to Fatuketi and Dualaus villages to plant shallots on the 12.8 ha, managed by 12 farming communities with each cultivating 1 ha.

He added that despite being one of four districts experiencing drought and crop failure, Kakuluk Mesak district was able to cultivate idle land and make it productive. The three other districts affected by drought and crop failure are Nanaek Tubesi, Raemanuk and Laknanen districts.

“Four of the 12 districts in Belu are affected by drought and crop failure due to the El Niño weather phenomenon. The extent of crop failure is over 50 percent,” said Willifrodus.

During an inspection of the drought-stricken location, he said he had found a source of water that could be used to overcome drought and crop failure and cultivate the 12.8-ha area.

Willifrodus related the ups and down of residents in Dualaus and Fatuketi villages who were relatively new to cultivating shallots. He added that up until then they only had grown rice and corn, but after experiencing crop failure and drought they turned to growing shallots by utilizing water from artesian wells.

According to him, residents living along the south coast of Belu, including those in Kakuluk Mesak district, were unfamiliar with shallot planting technology, but after getting help from agriculture counselors in Belu, they eventually managed to cultivate the idle land.

Fatuketi village head Markus Taus told The Jakarta Post that shallot cultivation in Fatuketi was carried out by nine farming communities on a 10-ha plot and in cooperation with the provincial office of the central bank for the first time.

“The nine farming communities are under the assistance of BI, which provided capital seedling assistance to farmers. The shallots were planted in June and were just three months old and harvested this month,” said Taus.

Eko expressed appreciation to the community living along the border between Indonesia and East Timor, especially those in Kakuluk Mesak district who turned dry land into productive land and who he said were incomparable to people in other regions who farmed with the benefit of abundant water resources.

“I have a commitment to encourage every village to have primary products, so we encourage each village to have a Village Enterprise Agency [Bundes], or even better at the district level,” he said.

Eko promised to help provide farming communities in the two villages with tractors and rototillers to cultivate dry land.

Eko, who was sworn in as minister on July 27, claimed that the border region had the potential to be developed. One potential field is cattle breeding and salt farming in coastal areas, he said.

Eko’s visit to the border with Timor Leste for two days on Aug. 16 and 17 was the first, including celebrating the 71st Independence Day in Nanaet Dubesi district. “I picked Belu because it borders with Timor Leste and I wanted to get direct input from the region,” he said.

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