A total of 25 children from Taman Belajar Masyarakat Ama Ina (TBM Amin) and 2 Ledetalo Village officials on Tuesday (07/03/23) planted ketapang tree seedlings at the Leokowa Beach tourist site. There are 57 ketapang trees planted by children where 27 trees are the result of their own cultivation and 30 others are seedlings cultivated by SHEEP Indonesia together with the OMB group. The involvement of children is intended to foster awareness at an early age regarding environmental sustainability as well as being an example for adults about independence in how to get seeds from local resources for environmental sustainability.
The tree planting was initiated by the children of TBM Amin after following their parents in training related to the introduction of local food cultivation with YSI. The training that runs repeatedly fosters children's initiatives and makes them interested in planting Ketapang independently, according to one of the children they feel happy because they are able to contribute to greening their place of residence "I'm so happy that finally the seeds of the ketapang tree (Wo Ketapa) that we took together, took care of and took care of every day, today we can plant together. hopefully it will continue to grow well and be green, so we can protect the weather from getting too hot again."
Planting ketapang on the coast aims to reduce heat and is also used as a shade plant in coastal areas. Ketapang was chosen because its seeds are easy to find and have not been utilised so far, while ketapang is a plant that is easy to grow in dry and coastal areas and has good resistance to wind; in addition, its wide leaves can also be used for shelter. After planting the ketapang, YSI together with the children of TBM Amin will continue to plant tree seedlings around the springs around the sabu liae sub-district and fruit plants that will be planted in their yards. This activity is proof that YSI is not only mainstreaming local food but also taking concrete action to reforest and protect springs in the Sabu Raijua region.
Sarif Hidayat, area manager of Sabu Raijua said "Planting seedlings is expected to foster children's confidence and also inclusive education, where the issue of environmental sustainability is dominated by adults alone without involving children, women and disabilities. In addition, it is an example for stakeholders, where reforestation programmes solely rely on seedling procurement programmes from outside the Sabu area which have an impact on the sense of ownership of each individual who is given the seedlings, with this initiation answering two things, first we are able to produce our own tree seedlings, secondly increasing the sense of ownership so as to increase discipline in care and maintenance" he concluded.