Indonesians in Focus: Agus Susilo Hadi

By Barrie | October 2nd, 2007 | No Comments

Agus Susilo Hadi is of medium height and build, with a distinctive moustache and a quiet disposition. He rarely gets hassled by anything. His name gives away the fact that he is not originally from Tolongano in South Banawa, Donggala — around 62 kilometers west of Palu, Central Sulawesi — the place where he lives.

In fact Agus was born in Banyuwangi, East Java, in 1963.

About 24 years ago he moved with his parents from Java to Banggai regency in Central Sulawesi

Ten years later the multiskilled young man left home, moving to Tolongano to start a new life. He was not fussy about jobs or salary and for a long time worked on construction sites and farms. Finally he got enough money together to get married. Today he has four children.

Agus knew he could not stay forever a jack-of-all-trades. He was also aware that he was no longer alone. He had a wife and the responsibilities of providing for his family.

Using the money he had earned together with capital from his wife Ulida, Agus bought 1.5 hectares of land and planted cacao trees, the beans of which are used to produce chocolate.

Four years later, he is getting good returns from his investment in cacao because he has applied new agricultural techniques.

In 2004 he enrolled in an agricultural college run by a community self-help organization called Acdi Voca. The college taught farmers how to increase their cacao production.

Agus studied at the college for six months. Finally he was successful in introducing new techniques to increase production.

Now he is enjoying the fruits of his hard work. Before going to the agricultural college he harvested 300-350 kilograms of cacao pulp. Now he has been able to increase his cacao production to between 600 kg and one ton each harvest.

The secret has been to take shoots with live buds and graft them on to the side of trunks. Agus buys graft materials from farmers who have developed high quality cacao trees. A small cutting, little more than the size of a leaf tip, costs him Rp 2,500-3,000 (about US 34 cents).

After preparing a young cacao cutting, Agus cuts into the old trunk with a knife, inserts the cutting into the opening and covers it with plastic.

“Side-grafting is just like a surgical procedure,” he said.

Within a week the cacao cutting starts to take and young cacao leaves can already be seen growing between the old branches. Two or three weeks later, part of the old tree is cut out, leaving the new grafted cutting room to grow.

The results have been extraordinary. Cacao harvests prior to the introduction of this method amounted to only 350 kg per hectare. But after grafting farmers have been able to increase their cacao production by up to 2.5 tons per year per hectare.

Two to three weeks later, after the new buds from the graft have started growing, part of the main trunk is cut out. This is termed the rejuvenation of the cacao.

Agus has spread his knowledge to other farmers, both in Tolongano and other subdistricts of Donggala.

“I have only one goal,” he said. “The cacao industry is on the brink of a new and prosperous era, but to achieve this farmers need to increase their cacao cultivation.”

In the beginning, many farmers thought Agus was crazy for cutting his trees. But he simply invited them to see for themselves the results of his grafting technique. The farmers were impressed, asking Agus to teach them the technique so they too could introduce it on their properties.

Madong Kana, 38, one of the farmers who introduced grafting at his farm, said his income had increased significantly. His annual income is now around Rp 24 million ($2,580).

“I only have 1,000 cacao trees,” he said. “Long ago I could only get a yield of about 350 kg, so my income was around Rp 4.2 million ($451).

“But after I started grafting new stock in the way taught by Agus my income increased almost sixfold.”

Agus said that in a normal situation cacao yields peaked after three or four years, but dropped off as the tree aged. When grafting techniques were introduced the trees got a new lease of life and all farmers had enjoyed good results.

Agus’ success has encouraged other farmers to introduce grafting techniques and opened the government’s eyes to new possibilities. It also caught the attention of foreign institutions.

In 2005, Agus, along with farmers from other regions were invited to the Philippines to attend the Asia Cacao Conference.

“I was the only cacao farmer from Central Sulawesi invited to that conference,” he said.

Not only that, the Asian Development Bank encouraged all farmers in Tolongano village to take part in the Farm Income Increasing Program Through Innovation (P4MI).

Between the years 2003 and 2006, P4MI has been carried out in 130 villages, with 110 villages targeted in the future.
Agus’ rule in the program is to help farmers introduce new farming techniques.

“I hope all farmers in Donggala regency can increase their cacao cultivation,” he said. “And one of the ways of doing this is to develop new grafting techniques.”

Ruslan Sangadji