Nissa Wargadipura
Guiding Garut's Religious Farmers

Nine santri, or religious students, sit in a circle on the floor before Nissa Wargadipura, in theopen-airgazebowhere they usually read the Qur'an. Their eyes are fixed on the founder of the pesantren(Islamic boarding school) who was deeply explaining about the diversity of medicinal plants. "What is this called? What can be it used for?" Nissa asked them, as she poured the dried roots and leaves into several small bowls.

On that Friday two weeks ago, it was not only students of her school who were learning with her. Three agriculture researchers from the Sayogyo Foundation had joined. They had signed up for the three-day agroecology course offered by the ath-Thaariq pesantren. Nissa said many institutions had come to her school to study agroecology, among others, the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago from South Sulawesi, an organic farming association from Purworejo, and a group of nuns from Central Java.