TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rows of watermelon plants flourish in Norbes Selan's one-hectare farm at Tubelopo village. It will take a few more months before the fruits can be harvested. In another section of the farm, cucumber, tomato, green beans and chayote have started to grow. "I think I'll be able to harvest some of them soon," said the 27-year-old woman.
It takes around four hours by car to get to Tubelopo in the North Central Timor Regency from Kupang, the capital city of NTT. Norbes said there are not many job opportunities in her village; as a young woman, she had never thought of becoming a farmer.
A few years ago, Norbes migrated to Surabaya, East Java, to work as a tailor. But she realized that although she was working in the city, she was still not earning much. Factoring in a steeper living cost compared to her hometown, Norbes finally decided to return to NTT at the end of 2014.
In April 2015, she heard about a program to facilitate young farmers, set up by a non-governmental organization (NGO), Plan International Indonesia. "I knew about it from a forum in my village," she said. Norbes's parents happen to own a one-hectare plot of land that was not fully utilized.
She joined the program thinking it would be better than unemployment. Plus, she would be able to take over her family's farming business. She received two kinds of training, agricultural and entrepreneurial.
Norbes complained that it was not easy at first because she was not used to heavy labor at the farm. Her parents had only asked her to help with simple tasks such as picking out vegetables. "At first I thought it was tedious, because it needed a lot of manual work," she added.
But she found that it got easier over time. Moreover, Norbes had the opportunity to use most recent technology in agriculture. Plan International Indonesia provided the young farmers with a cultivator and a mini tractor, so they would not have to plow the land by hand.
To her surprise, the first harvest after only months of farming brought in a profit of Rp17 million. She sold her produce to the nearby market in her area. Other buyers from other regencies started coming.
Norbes now believes that farming is a lucrative business for young people like herself. "You have to get out in the field and work a little harder, but I think it's worth it. I earn more now than I did in the city," she explained.
She hopes other people her age will consider farming, instead of migrating to cities where there is no guarantee they would earn more or get a decent job.
As a young woman, Norbes is proud that she can prove not only to her family but to her community that she can make her own living. "A lot of the women here don't work because they have to marry very early and take care of their children," she said.
Now, Norbes is planning to expand her farm and plant more types of fruits and vegetables. At the moment she harvests three times a year and earns at least Rp10 million each time. "Usually I can make more than that. I earn less in the wet season because the crops sometimes get damaged from too much water," she added. (*)
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