As we know in Sustainable Agriculture, Masanobu Fukuoka taught about natural agriculture. Rudolf Steiner from Austria first taught the concept of biodynamics originally in this subtropical climate to heal “sick” soils by taking advantage of some mineral stones to presence of natural microorganisms in the soil. One particular important point of Biodynamics is very spiritual in nature and respects local ancestral culture. As we know that we are all spiritual beings who occupy a body/physic. Some people think it is mystical, even though all of it can be explained by science and metaphysical logic. Biodynamic will restore soil life.
About Tropical Biodynamic Agriculture and Community Development
A new energy manifests into our sustainable agriculture. This is about a study based on the potential of local villages in our tropical climate. Tropical Biodynamic Agriculture which was introduced by an Indonesian researcher, named Yos Suprapto in our first meeting in February 2010.
Luckily after 11 years we were reunited with Yos Suprapto through a Rudolf Steiner Indonesia community, which is a Biodynamic whatsapp community/group from all over Indonesia at the end of 2021. This moment gave us confidence to develop Tropical Biodynamic concept as a new force. Technically, we have just on the stage of tested the bacterial culture. It takes 4-6 months before being applied, and I want to have this commitment in continuing the work of organic agriculture in the grassroots.
In this paper I will introduce the special character of Biodynamics which is a subject in the Agricultural Movement, how Biodynamics began to raise the issue of community development as part of the universe system and how the closeness between Biodynamics and Community Development leads to spiritual growth.
Start step simply small
In the past sometimes our projects faced challenges when we just wanted to be big in the early stages. As a result, many things have not been studied in detail, only being temporary programs because the basic philosophy is not able to be landed well in the community.
Yos Suprapto's Brief Profile
Several Tropical Biodynamic learners under the direct supervision of Yos Suprapto spread across several regions in Indonesia, starting from Aceh, Batam, Banten, West Java, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, Central Java, East Java and Bali. I can say that the Tropical Biodynamic Agriculture activities that have been spread have become a kind of very dynamic school in these various places.
The Biodynamic Community exchanges experiences, visits each other, conducts joint practices and discussions about the world of agroecology. Even Yos Suprapto also invites his students to understand environmental issues that cannot be separated from global issues that have an impact on agriculture activities at the local level.
Casually beside being a painting and music artist, Yos Suprapto was also an activist for the people's movement in his youth. Together with his friends, Yos carried out many criticisms of various programs of the elite national level of policy that had an impact on environmental damage in several places in the country during the Orde Baru regime of government. I was very enthusiastic listen Yos' stories, one of which is the struggle with his friends against a company that will establish the biggest tissue factory in the world. This company will encroach on 800,000 hectares of forest in Merauke Papua.
His courage was not without risk. Yos, who was living in Australia at that time, had difficulty returning to Indonesia. And there are many more struggles with people's movement activists.
Personally through his works, both paintings and songs of people movement, Yos expresses his love for Indonesia's homeland. And after 27 years in Australia, this professor born in 1952 was able to return home and devoted his knowledge to the Indonesian nation and state, was asked to serve as a teacher at several universities, teaching various appropriate technologies in rural communities from Aceh, West Java, Yogyakarta, East Java and Papuans.
His life continues to inspire many people's movement activists at the national level to the very local and rural levels, both in collaboration with government and non-government institutions. I was lucky to be able to learn directly from him.
Tropical Biodynamic is one that Yos has developed among many other learnings. It is enough that a handful of the results of the Tropical Biodynamic bacteria culture, which is familiarly called BD500, is applied to an area of 1000 m2. These bacteria will grow rapidly to improve soil structure, soil texture and soil organic matterial content in the land.
Changing in soil conditions that are improving and "healing" can be recognized from the physical characteristics and yields of the plants cultivated on the land. Damaged land or land that has lost its fertility will return to their health and fertility. Lands that are not productive, damaged due to industrial activities with high chemical inputs, microorganisms that have died for a long time will be restored to life, fertile again.
That is a great idea to answer some of the environmental problems that are happening in many places today. And From Yos Suprapto I also learned about strengthening and motivation to bring out potential from within the farming community, it will never stop even though it passes through time from generation to generation.
As a Javanese, Yos takes cultural approaches, art combined with science. Yos believes that these three things are not separated. Many people has been trapped in a wrong assumption that these three things are separated from each other. Yos opened up the horizons of people's thinking that actually art and science is a unity in every culture. I read his excellent book entitled Appropriate Technology in Aesthetic Context. Yos pays attention to starting from discussing farming philosophy, practice and monitoring in the community bases of his students while communicating with his friends in Australia to continue to develop himself in research related to Biodynamics.
Tropical Biodynamic in Community Development
Biodynamic can be an entry point and even become the main program in Community Development. The BD500 culture process required a total of 6 months to be stored in the soil with a depth of 50 cm covered with a covering material which in principle was still under aerobic conditions but should not be exposed to direct sunlight or rain. At the age of 4 months, they were checked, evaluated and added several bacterial feed ingredients to be continued until they were completed in the 6th month.
Currently, Tropical Biodynamic in Salatiga is still conducting preliminary research by culturing BD500 starter from 2 different places brought by Yos, one is from a farmer community in Bantul Yogyakarta and the other one is from a Baduy farming community in Kanekes Banten.
The BD500 from Bantul was cultured at the PUSPAPARI TRUKAJAYA Training Center location on November 29, 2021. Normally it will be evaluated at the end of March 2022 (4 months old) and finished at the end of May 2022 (6 months old). The failure occurred, the submergence of the BD500 culture, not because of rainwater from above but rainwater seepage from the ground. The lesson is that we have to improve the drainage of the BD500 culture site, although it is certain to fail, the results will still be observed as a comparison.
Based on that experience, Yos recommended me to re-culture the BD500 from Baduy. While for that I chose a place in the Trukajaya garden which I made sure was safe from puddles of water and direct sunlight. My bacterial culture started on January 3, 2022, so it will be 4 months old for evaluation in early May 2022 and will be completed at 6 months in early of July 2022.
For the application to the land, I also carried out experimental cultivation of several vegetables before and after being given BD500. Both will also be observed, documented and comparisons will be made. I hope that this simple research will be a learning material for the farmer communities assisted by Trukajaya.
In the future, we will continue to study BD501, and there are many more Biodynamics learning series.
According to Yos Suprapto, Tropical Biodynamics is very applicable and frees farmers from dependence on chemical inputs in farming, because it is enough to use local materials around the farmers' homes, but has a tremendous impact on improving soil quality.
Biodynamic Development Ideas in community
Our beloved community which is spread out in various places, is the right medium for this learning. Tropical Biodynamics and also Biodynamic generally, is answering the problem of environmental issue, water and food crises. And I think this lesson will be very relevant to reach out to many communities spread all over the world who are facing almost the same issue, environmental damage and loss of soil fertility. Therefore, in my opinion this good learning can also someday be practiced by farmer groups in Indonesia.
Warm greeting from Salatiga
Eunike Widhi Wardhani
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