[FLYER] Biointensive Farmer Field School

During initial assessments for the Restoring Coastal Livelihood program, Bugis men expressed their wish for women to play a larger role in income generation, yet still stay close to home, due to a myriad of daily tasks around the household. Life along the western coast of South Sulawesi had become increasingly tenuous, with vast areas of unproductive fish farms as the main landscape feature, owned by a few local elite and of little economic benefit to the majority of coastal dwellers.

The loss of the mangrove forests resulted in far fewer economic options for villagers in terms of fisheries, timber and non-timber forest products. The impacts of salt water intrusion on rice fields (situated behind the aquaculture ponds), irregular flows of fresh water, from the mainland, disrupted irrigation, and the ever-increasing need for external inputs to provide energy to the entire system present constant challenges, which impact more on the poor, vulnerable and especially women.