Peatlands and Pineapples

But it wasn’t always like this. Certainly not in July—the midst of West Kalimantan’s dry season—in an El Niño year. Until several years ago, the air at this time of year would’ve been thick with smoke, the ground crackling and parched.

Like many farmers in the region, Tika grew up learning that the best way to clear land for planting was to set a fire and use the ashes to fertilize next year’s crops. Paired with drainage, decades of this practice ravaged the village’s rich, spongy peat soils and polluted the air with harmful emissions. In other words, using fire backfired.

It is only since Tika’s village became a fire-free community, supported by fire brigades and better water management, that things began to shift. Now, the peatlands that sustain life here are returning from the brink. And Tika’s farm—and livelihood—are flourishing.

In response, TNC’s Indonesian affiliate, Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN), is supporting four fire-free villages in West Kalimantan, to practice sustainable agriculture on peatlands without burning. Working alongside the local community members, YKAN’s team of scientists is training farmers in these villages about sustainable agriculture that does not involve burning.

Farmers like Tika have benefited. Thanks to the no-burn agriculture training and rewetted peatlands, her village was able to diversify crops using raised beds that protect them from flooding and high water tables. Now they are able to plant and harvest every day of the year instead of only during the rainy season. And following a training specifically for women's groups, Tika started a small business, turning pineapples that otherwise would have been discarded due to being small or oddly shaped, into certified Halal syrup, jam and candy.

What began as a modest effort to sustain her own family has grown into a source of income and stability, even during the dry season when harvests once failed.