Swimming in the tides of progress

Soft-spoken and unassuming, Dr. Muhrizal Sarwani seems the perfect epitome of a stereotype scientist hiding away in his laboratory. He describes himself as in between an introvert and an extrovert, taking time to know someone before he warms up to them. And yet his role as the new director of the Indonesian Center for Agriculture Technology Assessment for Rural Development (ICATAD) demands that he face people day in and out.

Dr. Sarwani (extreme right) checks a demonstration plot on integrated crop management in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, which was visited by crowds, including the president and the ministry.

ICATAD is a national organization with 79 employees based in Bogor, Indonesia. It coordinates 32 smaller research-extension facilities each called Assessment Institute of Agricultural Technology (AIAT) or Balai Pengkajian Teknologi Pertanian (BPTP) in Bahasa, with one AIAT per province. About 84 employees work in each AIAT, and there are almost 835 researchers and 264 extension specialists in all the AIATs.

“AIAT’s role is to spread technologies to the farmers,” says Dr. Sarwani. “We have to adapt the technology to the local and social conditions of a province before bringing it to the farmers.” He cites an example of rice preference in West Sumatra to emphasize his point. “In West Sumatra,” he says “they do not like glutinous rice. If you start giving them rice varieties, even though they are high-yielding, without knowing their preference, there will be lower adoption because the farmers do not like the rice.” He realizes that technology dissemination is the bottleneck in transferring technologies in Indonesia, and how to make things simple for the farmers. “This is why we built the AIAT,” he says.

Aside from the AIAT, which has been around for about 12 years, Indonesia now has the Prima Tani program, a model they use to bring technologies to villages faster. Dr. Sarwani is passionate about AIAT because he was a researcher in an AIAT in Central Kalimantan. Dr. Sarwani, a soil and water scientist, used to study tidal wetland rice in swamp areas in Central Kalimantan, where there is not much irrigated rice.

Growing up in tidal wetland areas eventually inspired him to study soil science. “I lived near the riverbank,” he narrates. “Our river was very big, about as big as the Mekong, about 1-kilometer wide. I learned how to swim when I was 5.” He pursued his MS in soil fertility at the Wageningen University of Research, Netherlands, and his PhD in soil management at Universiti Putra Malaysia.

A pivotal moment in his career was his appointment as head of the AIAT in Central Kalimantan after 20 years as a researcher. This was his turning point from being a scientist in the laboratory to a coordinator out in the field. For him, learning to organize and work with local government units was a memorable time in his career. In fact, he admits that had he not been a scientist, he would have wanted to be a social worker.

But for now, he is enjoying his new role as the director of ICATAD, having been in the position only since December 2007. His new job has stationed him in Bogor, where he lives with his wife, Mahrita. His three sons, Siraj, 22, Fajri, 20, and Zaki, 16, are all living on campus, far from Bogor, but Dr. Sarwani does not seem to worry. “Sooner or later, they will all get married,” he explains lightheartedly.

He does remember, though, that when he was studying for his PhD in Malaysia, he used to take his three boys swimming every weekend. Dr. Sarwani could then swim 20 laps in an Olympic-sized pool. With his swimming days behind, he relaxes by reading mostly motivational books or novels. He confesses to being a rock music fan in his younger days, having grown up with an uncle who listened to the famous rock band Queen. Now, he listens mostly to soothing music from the 1960s and ’70s by singers like Frank Sinatra.

Clearly, his quiet demeanor does not mean that he simply stood by the sidelines and waited for good things to come his way. He has this to say to today’s youth: “If you want to achieve something, do it well and be focused and serious about it. If someone asks something of you, you give more than what is expected, and you will get more in return. Share your talents with others, and don’t keep them to yourself.”

Trina Mendoza (t.mendoza@cgiar.org)

Our partners up close archive