Bumisari is a small 2.6 HA plot located not far from Cibening. It is HHAHA our first project and the inspiration for the GoldTeak 3P: People, planet and profit concept. The trees are growing well and are at an age where they suffer very little during the dry season.
The trees on the hill look healthy. Rian, our only guardian at Bumisari, cuts the grass and cleans dried leaves from the land. The dried leaves are a fire hazard so it is better to remove them; however, the dried leaves when decomposed provide nutrients for the trees. To address this issue GoldTeak is deciding how to best implement composting in 2010 with the grass and leaves in order to return these nutrients to the trees.
Rian measures and re-numbers trees. Beginning in year 2 of the Bumisari project GoldTeak began to number certain trees in order to evaluate growth cycles as well as growing patterns. Our teak escalation tables show a basic overview of the growth cycles.
For the first year of the project we did not understand the need to have guardians to care for the trees and help them grow. In the second year of the project GoldTeak decided that while it would cost more money to have a full time employee living on the land, the long term results would justify the additional cost.
We compare Bumisari and a field of another grower adjacent to our plot. These trees have not been cared for and it is obvious that the work of clearing the weeds and nurturing the trees produce better growth.
Guardian Rian is a full time employee of GoldTeak and lives on the plantation with his family.
He also plants cassava and some vegetable just for daily needs.
