KUPANG - Matias Moruk couldn't believe it when a member of the police came to see him and asked for permission to cultivate his land, which he had often left untreated.
The name of the police officer is Brigadier Nasrul Ikhwan Ninong. Nusrul wants to work on the almost one hectare land as a tomato garden.
Instead of being happy, Matias was pessimistic. Reported from Antara, Thursday, July 28, the resident of the border of East Nusa Tenggara and Timor Leste, precisely in Maneikun Village, Lasioat District, Belu Regency, considers it difficult to cultivate tomatoes on the land because there are no seeds.
However, Bripka Nasrul Ikhwan Ninong tried to convince Matias. The Head of Samapta at the Lasiolat Police said he was ready to cultivate tomato seeds. On April 22, 2022, the effort to build the idle land began. Bripka Nasrul was directly involved in the land clearing process. Not infrequently still wearing his official clothes.
That hard work is starting to pay off. Now, on Matias Moruk's land, around 700 lahurus tomatoes are grown, typical of the Lasiolat area.
The lahurus tomato is the only type of tomato that has large and rare fruit because it can only grow in a few villages within the Lasiolat District, Belu Regency and not in other areas. In addition to focusing on tomato cultivation, the land is also planted with chili peppers and various types of vegetables.
Matias expressed his gratitude to Bripka Nasrul for motivating him to empower his vacant land. Now the land is growing hope, promising additional income.
Matias and Bripka Nasrul have agreed that the harvest from the tomato garden will be sold in the market and will be brought to Atambua City and even to Malacca and Kefamenanu, North Central Timor (TTU) Regency. The price of lahurus tomatoes ranges from Rp. 100 thousand to Rp. 125 thousand per kilogram.
The expanse of unused land in Maneikun Village is indeed very wide. Each resident in the village each has an area of one hectare. Only the topography is hilly.
Most of the land is only used to grow corn during the rainy season. When the dry season is left untreated. Bripka Nasrul wants to change all that.
"I am motivated by the potential in this area. Moreover, there are many vacant lands or unused land that have not been managed properly, even though there is a lot of water here," said Bripka Nasrul when met in Atambua, Antara, Monday, July 25.
He also made Matias land as a pilot project. He wants to show that even in the dry season these lands can be productive. Armed with farming knowledge from his father, the man who was born in Bajawa 37 years ago began to realize his wish.
Bripka Nasrul also has a dream to use the vacant land to cultivate other commodities, including cultivating fresh water fishery so that local residents can have a lot of work and increase their income.
"After all, they will sell it later, the profit will be for them. I only help them," said Bripka Nasrul.
The effort to turn vacant land into gardening land is one of the efforts implemented by Bripka Nasrul to be close to the people in the border area.
As a member of the police, Bripka Nasrul has not forgotten his main duties, one of which is maintaining public order and security (kamtibmas). Moreover, he served in the border area.
Therefore, he always takes advantage of the momentum of togetherness with local residents to convey the message of security and social order to reduce crime rates in border areas.
"I tucked the security and security order, I asked him to avoid crime," said the member of the NTT Police Force 27, second batch of 2005.
Bripka Nasrul also has a dream to keep residents busy with various positive activities so as to reduce crime.
On the other hand, by utilizing existing land with various crops, people's incomes also increase and the level of community welfare also increases.
Bripka Nasrul also hopes that the profits from cultivating this unused land can help the poor and needy people.
Bripka Nasrul also wanted to show that even with farming, people can earn income to meet the family's economy, so they don't need to be too oriented to become employees.
NTT Chief of Police AppreciationNews of the positive actions carried out by Bripka Nasrul reached the ears of the NTT Police Chief Inspector General Setyo Budiyanto. For him, what Bripka Nasrul has done is an example of a humanist and precise police officer who upholds the duties of the police institution.
The two-star high-ranking officer feels proud because there are members who, outside of their routine duties, can do something useful for the community around where they work.
Moreover, what was done by Bripka Nasrul was selfless and aimed at enabling the people in the border areas to get additional income for their daily needs.
It is hoped that what Bripka Nasrul has done is a good example for other police officers in NTT to always do positive things for the sake of improving the community's economy.
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