Raising Family Income with Ongole and Bali Cattle (2000-2004)
22-0806-01

Farmers in resettlement areas of Lampung province in Sumatra sell cassava to processing factories, where they are also are employed as daily laborers. They use cattle to plow the hard land, which families have to rent if they do not own cattle. The economic crisis has caused the price of cattle to triple and forced many school-age teenagers to drop out of school.

This project will:

• Provide 83 families with one head of cattle each

• Help participating families improve their income and nutrition by raising draft/beef cattle

• Train all families in cattle management and health, as well as in use of manure for planting vegetables to improve the family nutrition

• Train all families to plant forage and prepare animal housing

• Achieve the community organizations’ self-reliance in managing their programs

Yayasan Bimbingan Mandiri (Self-Reliance Guidance Foundation) (YABIMA) was developed by the Association of Protestant Churches in the South Region of Sumatra and formally registered in 1989. YABIMA works to overcome people’s socioeconomic suffering and in related law and justice issues. They provide impoverished farmers services in the agriculture, livestock, and legal sectors. Additionally, they provide relief services to victims of natural disasters. To better assist women and laborers, they have recently joined two local NGO networks focused on these issues.

Each of recipient families, through their group, will have training about livestock management, housing, and animal health (prevention). Likewise, they will have training in fodder management and feeding, organizational capacity (administration, reporting etc.), and human nutrition (making best use of their land). They will be trained to make use of the manure as fertilizer.

After three years, those families receiving Ongole cattle will keep the first crossbred offspring (age of about 22 months). The original Ongole crossbred cow and its second offspring of about 10 months age will be passed on to two other families. For those raising Bali cattle, after three years they will own the original Bali cows. The first and second offspring of the Bali cows will be passed on to two other families. Only female offspring of either breed will be kept. Males will be sold, and female replacements bought. For supporting the group activities, the beneficiaries who have got the benefits of the dams will give 10% contribution of their profit to the group.

Heifer International is providing 52% of the total cost of the budget, while YABIMA is paying 18%, and the local CBO's are providing 30%.

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