Stories

One fine afternoon, the WRI Indonesia team (consisting of four people) visited Ronny Christianto’s research site. Ronny is a researcher who received research funding from the 'The Sustainable Use of Peatland and Haze Mitigation in ASEAN (SUPA)' project funded by the European Union. His research was 'Increasing Peat Farmer Livelihood through Modified Community Based Peatland Management'. Ronny built demonstration plots in two sites, i.e. Pal 99 and Limbung Village, as a part of this research. We had the opportunity to visit demonstration plots in Mulyorejo Hamlet, Limbung Village, Kubu Raya Sub-District, Kubu Raya District, Central Kalimantan Province.

Ronny had his reasons for choosing this title for the study. Ronny observed that the community’s cultivation practices were still far from sustainable, for the environment and peatland, as well as for the farmers' income. Peatlands are acidic and farmers usually add lime or dolomite to the land to reduce the acidity. Approximately 2 tons of lime or dolomite costing Rp 2 million is typically required per season. “People usually use fire for land clearing, because the community believes that this method is economical and practical. However, this can trigger peatland fires. To address this, I assisted the Village Chief in formulating a Village Regulation to prohibit activities that could cause peatland fires. However, after the regulation had been issued, the Village Chief asked me about enforcement.” said Ronny.

Ronny assisted the Village Chief in formulating a Village Regulation to prevent peatland fires in Limbung Village. The Village Regulation stated that the community is not allowed to use fire for land clearing. In addition, the ‘pandukan’ (the location for burning crop residue) must be determined if the community wants to burn crop residue on peat land. This is done by collecting crop residue or vegetation waste in a single location and then burning it. The diameter of the pandukan should not exceed 1 meter. The community usually does the burning in the afternoon, so the smoke produced from burning waste or crop residue can repel pests that exist in plantations. "But the pandukan would make the fire directly touch with the peat soil? That could potentially burn peat organic matter too?” Ronny continued when explaining about the pandukan. Therefore, Ronny believes that the pandukan method needs to be replaced so it does not burn peat organic matter directly, hence it does not potentially cause peatland fires.

To overcome this problem, Ronny came up with the idea to make a Kon-Tiki Kiln, i.e. a tool that is often used as a container for burning wood waste from peatlands to produce biochar. Biochar is a carbon-rich solid material resulting from the conversion of organic waste through incomplete combustion. The biochar is then added to the peat soil, which will be used as a planting medium. Kon-Tiki Kiln can be a solution to replace pandukan, because wood waste from peatlands or crop residues from peatlands can be burned by using this tool without the fire having direct contact with the peat, hence it doesn't harm the peatlands.

“Pandukan is just one of the reasons why manufacturing the Kon-Tiki Kiln device is important. In addition to this, there are some other important reasons," Ronny continued with an excited tone. “The community sometimes still burns land even though the use of fire on peatlands has been banned. According to them, it (is) a practical and economical way to clear the land of bushes and dry wood. The crop residue and wood waste on the land will then be burned in the Kon-Tiki Kiln.”

Ronny believes that there are two reasons why it is important to utilize wood waste to produce biochar using the Kon-Tiki Kiln to prevent peatland fires in community cultivation areas. First, the ideal raw material for producing biochar is stakes or wood found on peatlands. By utilizing these materials to produce biochar, you have reduced the 'fuel' found in peatlands. If the wooden poles or logs are left untreated, these materials can easily catch fire and endanger the peatlands. Second, because the production of biochar from wood or stakes is done by burning these materials using the Kon-Tiki Kiln, farmers will no longer make pandukan or will no longer carry out burning activities in areas that have direct contact with the peat land. 

“The wood or stakes can produce charcoal when used for making biochar. Afterward, when these materials have been used up, you can use the wood from dead trees that are still standing. If the wood from the dead trees has been used up, we can use the weeds in the peatlands,” Ronny continued while pointing at the shrubs. He added that raw materials such as wood will produce charcoal, but raw materials such as shrubs will produce ash. Charcoal has a higher quality than ash because charcoal has pores for bacteria to live in.