Pineapples and peatlands

Indonesia – Sowing 10,000 pineapple plants is not everyone’s idea of a good time.

But for Meri Andayani and her friends, the opportunity to grow, harvest and sell their own produce is a dream come true. And that dream includes greater prosperity for their families and for their community as these women work to restore and revive a piece of Indonesia’s peatlands that is their home, their livelihoods and their culture.

Those peatlands are also critical to the global fight against climate change.

“We planted those 10,000 plants in five days. We planted the pineapples together with friends, and we’re happy,” Andayani says, her face shaded by a wide-brimmed straw hat identical to those worn by other women in her local farmers’ group. “In the future, we can continue to plant pineapples….we will carry on.”

Adds her colleague Norwati: “Our hope is that we plant pineapples successfully and harvest a lot….I think that…

See the rest of the story at forestsnews.org