Into Agriculture With Barsha Pump: A Story of a Hotel Management Graduate

A hotel management graduate from the reputed university in Bali, Henry Roga, despite having the opportunities to serve in the hospitality sector in the city, returned to his village Menguruda in Bajawa, Flores, NTT and started a vegetable farm of his own called BR farm, which he named after the initials of his late father, Benyamin Roga – who had big dreams of bringing the change in the Mengeruda village.

Farmers in Mengeruda village used to cultivate the rice, and the fields were used to get filled with green paddies from the hills to the river. But such fields, today, hardly comes into sight in Mengeruda as 10 years back, the dam that government built from which the farmers used to take the water to their field through irrigation canals, got damaged and still, there is no sign of it getting reconstructed. Without the dam, bringing the water to the lands was and still is a difficult task for the farmers in Mengeruda. Hence, the lands are no longer cultivated – is barren, leading farmers to give up their key source of income – farming.

Farmers in Mengeruda are still waiting and counting on the government to reconstruct the dam. However, Henry, with the entrepreneurial mindset he has, saw the barren land as an opportunity from which he can make his father’s dream of working for the village, to come to life.

Where there is a will, there is a way. Indeed!

Henry, in a casual meet up, came to know about Barsha pump – a water pump that is capable of running 24/7 without any fuel or electricity, from Adrianus, a member of SLC consultant – one of the aQysta’s distributors in Indonesia. Henry was very impressed learning about what Barsha pump can do – to the extent that he doesn’t own any land near the flowing river, yet, he approached villagers and convinced them to lend him the land nearby the river, where BR farm stands today.

Henry acquired the Barsha pump via aQysta’s EASI-pay model, where he got the pump without paying anything right away but contracted to pay for it only after his farm meets a good harvest. This gave Henry a head start on his dream of running a successful farm and giving something back to society.

With Barsha pump meeting the irrigation requirements of his farm all year round, Henry dreams of meeting the local market’s demand for the organic produces and commodities, because at the moment, vegetables that are available in the market in Mengeruda are still sourced from other islands. Also, utilizing his education background and knowledge in tourism and hospitality sector, in the long run, Henry aims of developing his BR Farm as an eco-agro-tourist place where people can come for recreational activities and also get training on organic farming.

Henry and the BR Farm team are working hard to harvest commodities this dry season with Barsha pump. If they succeed, they believe that more farmers and youth in the village will follow their path and the view of green lands in Mengeruda will return – once again.

aQysta is glad to be a part of Henry’s entrepreneurial journey and wishes him and BR Farm team all the best for their days ahead.

If you are interested in knowing more about the Barsha Pump, our EASI-pay model or our global activities, please feel free to contact us. We’ll be happy to share.