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25 Apr 2022
Economic Empowerment of Women's Group through the Cultivation of Fresh and Healthy Vegetables with Hydroponic Techniques in Urimesing, Ambon
Project leader: Mrs Johanna Audrey Leatemia
Level of education and university: Non Degree, Minister for Tertiary Education
Collaborating Organisations: -
Project Location: Maluku
Activity Type: Capacity building, mentoring or coaching
Sector: -
Project Rationale:
The women’s group “Horeb” is a community group located in Kampung Siwang, Urimesing village, Nusaniwe District, Ambon City. This is one of a congregation of women’s groups. Most of the members work as rubbish pickers and street sweepers. They have a small business activity where they rent plastic chairs and simple tents to people around their area. The chairs and tents are Ambon City Social service assistance to the group. The income from this activity is used to meet the group’s needs. During COVID-19, with all the social restrictions, this business was very affected. This business really depends on other people’s activities (gatherings, parties, etc). Meanwhile, the need for fresh and healthy vegetables for public consumption in Ambon city is increasing over time. Therefore, cultivation of vegetables using hydroponic techniques will be a new source of income to the group and will depend on their own activities to manage this business. Some members of this group also started to grow vegetables in their back and/or front yards for their family’s consumption. Hydroponic systems can be one solution for the development of vegetable crops with various advantages compared to conventional farming systems, including being able to fit on a small piece of land such as a yard. In order to carry out this idea, several problems were encountered by the groups, namely:
- Lack of knowledge and skill regarding vegetables cultivation with a hydroponic system
- Limited infrastructure to support the cultivation of vegetables with a hydroponic system
- Lack of group member knowledge about small enterprise management
- Limited funds owned by the group.
This project will help the women community group to improve their knowledge and skills in producing fresh and healthy vegetables through a medium-scale hydroponic system using two sets of Floating Raft Technique (Water Culture System). One set (8 x 1.5m) consists of 400 planting holes. This project should be a new source of income to this small business group and improve their knowledge and skills in agribusiness management. Therefore this project will strengthen the capacity of women community groups to be economically productive. This is a follow-on project, therefore it will be a replicate of the project that was done with a women’s group in Soya, Ambon, in 2020 where we used a DFT (Deep Flow Technique). This time the technique will be improved using Floating Raft Technique (Water Culture System) which is simpler and easier to handle for beginners.
Project Beneficiaries:
The direct beneficiaries are 10 people (8 women and 2 men).
Priority Development Area:
Economic Recovery
Link with Australian organisation:
Southern Cross University
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