KERTA GENERATIONS & COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE
Pak Made Gunawan, the chief of Kerta, has a vision for his village located at the tropical rainbelt region: to be the center for organic farming and agroforestry in Bali. While they have kept this concept and aspiration "inside them" for some time now, they have found it difficult to introduce this to the people. Given this missing piece of a puzzle, they got connected with Hai Dai, the founder of WOW Bali. This connection has led them towards a collaboration founded upon mutual trust. Currently, planning and development for the area has been ongoing between the WOW Bali Yayasan, the community and the government to prepare the community towards the achievement of this vision.
The land area of organic farmland offered for long-term co-development totals to 115 hectares. Local farmers grow both food and flowers (heliconia) in the area to sustain their livelihood. Now, they are looking at ecotourism and agrotourism as a way forward. The Kerta Generations have undergone series of workshops with WOW Bali to enable them to holistically participate and collaborate.
To jumpstart this partnership, WOW has enjoined the efforts of Matt Malerba of Fat Radish, a seed-saving permaculture group advocating Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA). He is working to create a seed bank in Bali and fight large multi-national seed companies that are destroying the seeds of the world, thereby helping farmers create biodiversity. His seed saving technology is likened into a seed library, where the organization keeps track of organic seeds from all over the world and exchange them with local farmers for them to grow. Organic seeds can be used to grow vegetables again, whereas hybrid seeds do not regenerate that way, forcing farmers to buy seeds every planting season.
Matt Malerba (right most) of Fat Radish CSA and Hai Dai of Wow Bali together with local organic Balinese farmer
Seed saving allows the creation of a community-- the mere act of sharing and exchanging seeds for farmers to grow starts the process of community building. And it does not end there: farmers are also encouraged to share their farming techniques, their "secret" process by simply exchanging information.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Project in collaboration with Fat Radish (a permaculture and seed saving organization) and Kerta Generations Youth Organization aimed at bringing affordable and sustainable organic vegetables to every home. The objectives of this collaboration project is to:
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create economic sustainability for the village;
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integrate ecological (organic) farming practices;
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have active learning to teach the generation new permaculture knowledge;
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regenerative education for other farmers; and,
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produce permaculture products.
Collaboration meeting with Fat Radish CSA, Kerta Generations, and WOW Bali
Collaboration meeting with The Mansion, Kerta Generations, Sekar Bumi and WOW Bali
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE COLLABORATION WITH KERTA VILLAGE AND FAT RADISH CSA
Listen to this creative exchange with Matt Malerba from Fat Radish CSA. Matt Malerba was featured in March 7, 2014 WOW Eco-life Celebration at The Mansion, Ubud.
WOW Bali is an international yayasan working on sustainability and wellness.
Kerta Village Generations is a local community organization keen at preserving the land through organic farming and ecotourism.
Fat Radish is a seed saving and permaculture organization that advocates Community-Supported Agriculture.
When these three forces collaborate for the main purpose of bringing organic healthy food to every home, one could be assured of amazing results!
Click play to learn about the action items for this collaboration.