Although Kuningan Timur subdistrict in South Jakarta has turned into a high-end business district, nothing has changed much in the daily routine of 67-year-old local resident Asmana.

While most residents were busy opening their food stalls, parking spaces and stores to accommodate employees of the commercial and office buildings, Asmana was busy taking care of her 11 cows on her 800 square meter property, jammed in among rented houses, a shopping mall and apartments.

“I am the last dairy farmer here. All the others have sold their land or turned it into rented houses,” she said.

Asmana said Kuningan was a well-known dairy farming center back when she was young but as land prices spiked, many locals decided to sell their land plots and move elsewhere.

“I have no plan to sell my land. I love taking care of the cows,” she said.

Asmana said dairy farming was her late husband’s business, but she kept it going after he died in 2014. “We had about 40 cows while he was alive, but now I can only take care of 10 cows,” she said.

Her daily activities start at 3 a.m. when she and her assistant milk the cows. “Then, we bath and feed them,” she said, adding that her assistant looks for grass in open fields around Kuningan in the morning.

According to Asmana, the cows produce approximately 60 liters of milk everyday.

Managing the business for decades, everything has gone smoothly for Asmana, although no other farmers have survived in Kuningan.

“I have regular milk customers, veterinarians and cow manure buyers,” she said, adding that the only problem was during dry season when it was hard to get fresh grass.

Asmana said the business was not great but good enough to keep it going. “I may sell the land when I cannot take care of the cows anymore as none of my six children want to continue the business,” she said.

She said people offered to buy her land for Rp 35 million (US$2,665) per square meter, but she refused to give it up. “I probably would sell the land for Rp 60 million per sqm,” she said.

Besides Asmana’s farm, the other dairy farm that has survived in the middle of the city is the one owned by 34-year-old Yudi, a fourth generation dairy farmer in Mampang, South Jakarta.

Yudi said he was not interested in the farming business at first. “I studied computer programming in college. However, being an employee is boring,” he said.

After quitting his job, he found himself enjoying helping his parents take care of about 30 cows.

Yudi said after taking over the business, he learned a lot in order to develop it. “I cannot add more cows as our property is limited, but I can improve the business,” he said.

He said a cow produces 10 liters of milk a day. “With the production, I can still earn money after paying two farm assistants,” he said.

Yudi bought milking machines to ease the job and found ways to make sure that his farm did not smell bed, so his neighbors did not complain.

He said he brings the cow manure to Bogor to be used to grow grass for the cows.

“I am preparing to expand the business to Bogor, but I want to keep the farm in Jakarta as a reminder that Jakarta once had a dairy farming center,” he said.

Fisheries, Agriculture and Food Security Agency head Darjamuni Taseda said several farmers still operate their dairy businesses in Jakarta despite urban development.

“There are farmers in Kuningan, Mampang and Gunung Sahari in Central Jakarta,” he said.

Darjamuni said the agency supervised a number of farmers with 80 cows in Pondok Rangon in East Jakarta. “They are farmers who moved from Kuningan,” he explained.

He said although he wanted farming to become centralized, the city had no reason to ban them from their location in the middle of residential areas. “We have not received any complaints from the neighbors, and they manage the waste well,” he said.

Darjamuni said the agency only ensured that new cows entering the city should be quarantined first to prevent the spread of diseases like Brucellosis.

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