Mety (29) is one of the Green Skills 2.0 participants who has reaped success with her horticultural farming business. Mety is the second child of three siblings who live in one of the North Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara district villages. She is a graduate of a Bachelor of Education from a university in Timor. Before joining the Green Skill 2.0 programme, Mety had applied for jobs in several places but didn’t get accepted into any.
On the sidelines, Mety has been running the horticulture business since becoming a Green Skill 1.0 participant. However, this business was not sustainable. In the past, Mety could only cultivate 5 acres of land and had fewer crops. She also faced challenges and was scorned by the community, even her family, who did not support her. The backlash came from the local culture in Timor, where women are considered unable to work on agricultural land, as it is deemed a profession in the lowest class. The local people also see farmland work as a dirty profession.
“But these challenges raised my spirits. I wanted to change their mindset. I wanted to prove that by being a farmer and cultivating the potential opportunities in our land, we could also be successful. I have proven it true,” she said.
Mety didn’t lose her spirit. She rejoined the Green Skill programme and used her knowledge to cultivate her farmland earnestly. Her hard work enabled her to develop 2 acres of land and earn IDR 15.000.000 – 30.000.000 per harvest. Her success and achievement have encouraged the community to learn from her. The local community, youth, university students and school students have become aware of the importance of horticulture farming. They are willing to learn about the practice by looking at the success reaped by Mety and her friends.
Thanks to her perseverance and achievements, Mety was chosen as the Millennial Farmer Ambassador, one of 2,000 young farmers appointed by President Joko Widodo on August 6, 2021, through an event organized by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia. Mety hopes that the younger generation can rise and be involved in developing the agricultural sector’s potential and seizing the opportunities that exist in the industry.
