Standing in her rice field in the agricultural village of Kemadang along the southern coast of Java, 53-year-old Marni Mariani pointed to the dry soil at her feet. “This is the land that we’ll harvest in three weeks,” she said. Yet as a consequence of the shortage of rain this season, two of her 4 rice fields have already failed.
She noted that she doesn’t sell the rice harvest from her plot, which measures 32 by 49 feet, but fairly that the food is for her family to eat. “But sometimes if there’s a famine and the harvest is small, we’re forced to purchase [rice] from outsiders,” she said. “That’s what burdens us here.”
Yet since 2020, Marni hasn’t needed to fret about buying rice at a high price. Her 70-year-old neighbor, Mbah Gepeng Harjo, also now not struggles to purchase the expensive seeds and fertilizer he must cultivate the rice fields that he tends to. (Mbah means “old man.”)
That’s due to an progressive church-run granary program created by local pastor Kristiono Riyadi of Kemadang Javanese Christian Church that seeks to keep up community food reserves, especially during times of drought. It provides a grain saving and loans program and a produce buyback program. It also sells seeds at an inexpensive price.
The granaries are a neighborhood solution to tackling food insecurity in Indonesia, a widespread problem facing nearly 1 out of each 10 Indonesians and that is simply increasing because the climate becomes more unpredictable. The poverty rate within the regency of Gunungkidul, where Kemadeng is positioned, is about 16 percent, with about 6,000 families living in extreme poverty.
The church also sees their work as an outreach to share the love of God to the community by helping with a few of their most elementary needs.
“From the testimonies of members of the food granary who’re of other faiths, they feel that the church provides take care of all, not only enthusiastic about themselves but additionally about others,” Kristiono said.
A source of relief for a dry land
Gunungkidul Regency has a tropical climate, with a topography dominated by karst hills, an area of irregularly eroded limestone with natural caves and underground rivers. The rainy season is brief, lasting only during November. The residents grow mainly rice, corn, and beans.
Difficulties related to crop failures, limited water sources, and an extended dry season attributable to climate change have often left farmers in the world in need of outdoor assistance.
As the situation became direr in Kemadeng and other villages in Gunungkidul’s Yogyakarta Province, Kristiono held an agriculture workshop in early 2020 to assist his congregants, most of whom are farmers. One of their top concerns was finding inexpensive and high-quality rice seeds.
“I suggested the concept to assist the villagers by establishing this food granary,” Kristiono said. “The farmers want their rice harvest to be stored, they usually wish to easily get seeds at reasonably priced prices. This granary not only fulfills their food needs all year long but additionally helps them in the course of the long dry season.”
Kristiono explained that members of this system are required to store a minimum of 10 kilograms (22 lbs.) of unhulled rice within the granary every year and may store as much as 40 kilograms (88 lbs.). They can then borrow rice from the granary for day by day consumption, special celebrations, or emergency situations. If they borrow the rice for celebrations, they should pay it back with interest.
Beyond providing storage, this system has also turn out to be a technique to economically support the farming community. During harvest season, the worth of grain is low, but the worth rises during off seasons, normally from July to October. So the church has decided to purchase the farmers’ harvests, including rice, beans, and soybeans, at an above-market price. The grains are stored after which available on loan to members or for purchase for the community in the course of the dry season. Members can purchase it at a reduced price.
“Unduh-unduh, or harvest day, is held as an expression of gratitude to God for the harvest every yr,” he said. The granary program “is economic development not just for the congregation but additionally for the encompassing community.”
A community-led program
Today there are three granaries, with two within the nearby villages of Planjan and Banjarejo, and together they serve 90 farmers, including some who aren’t Christians. On a February morning, two farmers stopped by the warehouse to purchase rice seeds, while others got here with rice to store.
The initial capital for the food granary got here from the Presbyterian synod of which Kemadang Javanese Christian Church is a member. The goal was to offer food security for the community, not only the congregation.
The synod’s general secretary, Anugerah Kristian, said the synod gave 30 million Indonesian rupiah (about $2,000 USD) to underwrite the food granary in Kemadang as an economic stimulus. “We are providing the capital only as an incentive” to initiate the project, Anugerah stated. “The granary must involve its residents or members.”
The granaries are financially viable, although the profits are very small, Kristiano said. Because the farmers return the crops to the warehouse, sometimes at an interest, Kristiano can sell the additional grain and use the small profit to purchase other crops. The challenge, nonetheless, is that if the harvest fails and farmers ask for an extension on the deadlines to repay the granary.
Anugerah emphasized that community participation is what makes the granaries a hit. “Members of the congregation, community, and village government considered their condition and the difficulties they experienced,” he noted. “The idea for the granary emerged locally and was carried out in accordance with their situation, with the synod’s support.”
Marni, who has been a granary member because it opened and can also be a member of Kemadang Church, said it has provided crucial economic assistance. “Water is difficult to acquire here, and sometimes the harvest is small, so now we have to be economical in using the harvested rice,” she said. “If we lack seeds, then now we have to purchase from middlemen at a reasonably high price. This is kind of burdensome. But because the rice granary was established, now we have been greatly helped.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the local government bought rice from the granary to distribute to the community.
Waldiyanto Harjo, a village official, expressed appreciation for the granary. “When this activity was launched, many villagers attended the event since the village head and other officials got here,” he said. “It continues to operate although the village has not provided additional capital.”
Kristiono sees the granary as a way for the church to live out the gospel. “For me, this can be a type of church care, as God’s Word says in Mark 12:31 to ‘love your neighbor as yourself,’” he said. “This is the actual form of affection. We are here realizing that with these granaries.”
