Breaking Ground: Maya’s Path to Empowering Farmers

The article was originally written by Febriana Tambunan from the Indonesia Organic Alliance.

Amidst the lush greenery of Mojokerto, a young woman treads a path less traveled by her peers. Maya Stolastika Boleng, an English Literature graduate, has taken a different direction away from conventional career journeys to dedicate her life to organic farming. When many of her peers were pursuing jobs in big corporations or government agencies, Maya found her true calling in the fertile yet challenging fields. Her story is not just about farming; it is a story of resilience, vision, and a deep commitment to creating change. 

Her journey into the world of organic farming began in 2007 when a yoga teacher in Bali inspired her to understand the deep connection between food, health and the environment. At that time, organic farming was still a foreign concept to many in rural Indonesia which was then dependent on conventional farming methods. Especially in Surabaya, despite being a big city, as the capital of the East Java province, people were still not familiar with organic farming.  

This prompted Maya to take action. Without a formal agricultural background, she pioneered to become a farmer with her college friends at that time. Experiencing failures and ups and downs, but accepting the challenges with passion, she continued to learn as much as possible about organic farming. 

Planting Trust, Reaping Change 

In Claket Village and Trawas Village, in 2008 Maya and her best friend Herwita, established Twelve’s Organic, an organic farm that now partners with 18 female farmers and 4 male farmers. It was not easy to convince farmers to switch to organic farming. For Maya, it took more than 10 years to educate, assist and support farmers in her village to go organic. Now she manages 2.5 ha of organic farms with increasingly consistent organic farmer partners. 

Since 2018, she has been working more intensively to increase consumer education on local organic food. This prompted Maya and the farmers at Twelves Organic to develop a Participatory Guarantee System called Unit PAMOR Claket. The goal is to ensure that the products produced by farmers are indeed processed organically and to increase consumer confidence in the products they buy and consume.  

In addition to building the PGS system there, she also actively promotes organic food to the local market through a community market called Pasar Surabaya Sehat. Twelves Organic is active in approaching various type of market. Now they sell their organic products to supermarket, restaurants, end-users, and hotels.

Empowering Women in Agriculture

Partnering with 80% women farmers, this is how Maya demonstrates her commitment to supporting the empowerment of women farmers. She recognises the crucial role of women in food production and community development. She sees that women tend to be more conscious and committed to sustainable practices, making them ideal for running organic farms. However, access to resources and decision-making remains a challenge for many women in rural farming communities. 

“Women are a reflection and manifestation of existing organic principles. That makes it easier for women to understand the organic process,” she explained.

According to Maya, women whose instinctive nature is to give birth and take care are very much in line with organic principles.  

Maya equips women farmers with the capacity of knowledge and skills in organic farming and encourages them to become independent agripreneurs. Women farmers can now voice their issues with confidence. The village government now gives more space and trust for women farmers to listen to their voice and take part in the village development programs. An indirect impact of the organic farming movement built in the community.   

More Than Just Harvest: Sustainable Impact 

Instead of seeing the achievement of organic farming production as the only success, Maya sees the influence that emerges in the lives of the farmers she assists as one of the achievements she is proud of. Through organic farming, she is proud to have played a role in influencing farmers’ mindsets about the importance of education. In her village, higher education used to be a rarity as many believed that sending children to school meant going into debt or selling family assets. Now, more and more farmers are more willing to support their children’s education up to college, breaking the barriers of previous generations. 

In addition, through organic farming, Maya is happy to have successfully reactivated previously unproductive lands into sustainable agricultural ecosystems. This initiative encourages local farmers to cultivate idle land and make it fertile again. Her work through Twelves Organic has also contributed to the increased attention on millennial farmer programs since 2016. She actively shares her experience and knowledge to encourage more young people to see agriculture as a promising life path. 

Aiming for A Sustainable Future 

Having achieved her initial goal to promote and educate people about organic farming in Surabaya. Now, Maya focuses on building sustainable supply chains, ensuring that farmers are no longer dependent on fluctuations in market demand, but work in a more stable and mutually beneficial system. She is also active in the organic consumer movement, serving as a Board Member of Indonesia Organic Alliance, an organic youth farmers movement in Indonesia, and participating in discussions on food security and smallholder empowerment with UNDP. Not only that, she has also been an active guest lecturer at her local university since 2018 to teach organic agriculture and agribusiness.  

One of the key aspects of her vision is to create a direct link between farmers and consumers, reducing dependence on middlemen who often take a large share of farmers’ income. By encouraging community-based agriculture (CSA) models and farm-to-table partnerships, she hopes to create a more equitable food system. “The organic journey is difficult because we are talking about the future. But if we give up now, who will continue this fight?” Maya says.

For her, organic farming is not just a business-organic is a calling and a way of life.  

“Because we live not just for ourselves,” she concluded.