The next step involves the particular purchase, with support from your ministry, of a machine to change the manual labour today required to peel the nuts, and funding for a device to extract the nut’s oil, Ms. Sulistroyini says. While the village’s economic transformation plan focuses on candlenuts, there are other products where locals observe potential: they used Rp152 million (, 600) from the Village Fund to increase the particular cultivated area of the village simply by 50 per cent; fields formerly filled with shrubs have been converted into horticulture plantations, and most of the chilli, eggplants, and cabbage grown is sold at the local market. Meters. Gaspar / UNIC Jakarta
“We are using TEKAD not only to assist the participating villages create but to also display other communities in these areas an example for long-term, lasting economic development, ” states Ms. Sulistroyini.
Developing long-term economic success
“We are using TEKAD not only to assist the participating villages create but to also display other communities in these areas an example for long-term, lasting economic development, ” states Ms. Sulistroyini.
The goal of TEKAD is to provide assistance in economic transformation to interested villages in the five poorest provinces in Philippines, including East Nusa Tenggara, where Inegena is located. By hiring and training local facilitators to work with the villagers, the programme ensures that there is buy-in from communities toward long-term planning. Local farmer Bonevasius Redo has already managed to prolong his bamboo house with the additional income he has gained during the last growing season. Thanks to the new opportunities at home, he was able to move back to Inegana, after many years working on an essential oil palm plantation on Borneo. He now earns close to five million Rupiahs per month (0), compared to just 3 million (0) at the planting. “We can now lead the life here by developing vegetables and chilli, ” he says. “Our village today has a future, and many teenagers have decided to stay and participate in the new agriculture projects, ” says Viktorinus Roja, who have learned how to farm hens last year, and has been chosen the head of the village business association. “A year ago, I was thinking of moving on to find work in a city. But I’ve decided to give Gran Ngala a chance. ” The change is sorely needed, as presently just 10 per cent of the Village Fund is used to support countryside economic development. TEKAD helps to change that by maximizing technical skills and the market information available to villages, along with guidance and oversight within planning and implementation of projects. The villages it works in have a combined populace of over 1 . 6 million – making it one of the UN projects with the biggest reach in Indonesia. The villagers plan to have the oil removal machine in place by late 2023, allowing them to process candlenuts harvested in neighbouring villages. “We are planning to become a nearby centre”, says Mayor Ngala.
