Coconuts bring livelihood to Menoreh<\/p>\n
By Ahmad Solikhan<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The arid and barren land of the Menoreh range
\nof hills is not suitable for tilling. Only cassava, coffee, clove
\nand second crop plants can grow on it, but the harvest of these
\nplants is not very lucrative for farmers.<\/p>\n
Only coconut trees can be relied on to grow abundantly and to
\nprovide for the farmers' daily needs, but it is also not very
\npromising because there is an interval of three to four months
\nbetween harvests. Moreover, a coconut tree yields only 10 to 15
\ncoconuts per harvest.<\/p>\n
Another less promising aspect is that the price of coconuts
\nfrom the time of the New Order regime to the allegedly more
\ndemocratic government often fluctuated, with prices tending to
\ndecline -- ranging from Rp 100 to Rp 300. In the meantime, the
\nprices of the nine basic commodities have increased by more than
\n300 percent.<\/p>\n
It is this problem that caused the farmers to change their
\nstrategy in order to have a harvest every day, so they do not
\nhave to wait until the harvest time of coconuts. They tap legen
\n(sap) to obtain the basic material for gula merah (palm sugar).<\/p>\n
Every morning until afternoon the legen in bumbung bambu
\n(bamboo cylinders) is taken to be cooked. The product, palm
\nsugar, slightly raises the income of the farmers, especially
\nthose living in the hills.<\/p>\n
Such conditions can be found in the villages of Ngaseman,
\nHargorejo, Kokap, Kulonprogo where the majority of local farmers
\nrely on the production of palm sugar.<\/p>\n
Nearly every day, from morning until evening, Ibu Atmowijono,
\n68, sits in front of a stove, stirring the pan of legen to make
\nit into palm sugar. She has been doing this work ever since her
\nhusband died 15 years ago.<\/p>\n
For the tapping of legen this mother of three children gets
\nthe help of a close neighbor who is paid on a production-sharing
\nbasis. She produces 15 to 20 liters of legen every day from her
\n40 coconut trees. Production falls to three to five liters a day
\nin a long dry season.<\/p>\n
According to Atmowijono, grandmother of nine, the legen is
\npoured into a pan or a wok after filtering. It is then cooked for
\nthree to four hours or until the legen thickens. It is then
\nmolded in a coconut shell. After two hours the palm sugar has
\nhardened and is ready to use.<\/p>\n
To obtain good quality palm sugar, it should not be dried
\ndirectly under the sun. It is enough to expose it to air.<\/p>\n
\"Three kilograms of palm sugar can be obtained from 15 liters
\nof legen,\" said Atmowijono.<\/p>\n
Suparmi, 30, a widow with two children, started the same
\nbusiness after her husband died in a traffic accident.<\/p>\n
Through 25 coconut trees that she owns, she reaps 11 liters of
\nlegen a day. In a production-sharing deal, she produces two
\nkilograms of palm sugar from the legen. The price of palm sugar
\nis only Rp 3,000 a kilogram.<\/p>\n
\"I share the income with a tapper on a 50-50 basis, so I get
\nRp 3,000,\" said Suparmi, a grade school graduate.<\/p>\n
According to Suparmi, most of the farmers have difficulty in
\ndetermining the price of palm sugar because of their debts with
\ntraders, who visit every five days. The price of palm sugar is
\ndetermined by traders at the time of the debt transaction.<\/p>\n
Although the market price of palm sugar is Rp 4,000 a
\nkilogram, the farmers cannot set their price and just follow the
\nprice set by the traders since they have a previous agreement to
\nsupply palm sugar to settle their debts. On the other hand, if
\nthe price of palm sugar drops to Rp 1,500 a kilogram, it is the
\ntraders' risk.<\/p>\n
However, the profit is always on the side of the traders, who
\ncan manipulate the price by pretending they do not need the palm
\nsugar if there is ample supply. Then they can reduce the price to
\nthe lowest level possible.<\/p>\n
Most of the farmers, however, are reluctant to sell their palm
\nsugar directly to traders at the market because of the small
\nquantity and because they have to go all the way up and down the
\nhills to reach the market.<\/p>\n
They acknowledge that their income from selling palm sugar
\ndoes not equal the energy spent in the long production process,
\nincluding searching for firewood. But they have to do it to
\nsurvive.<\/p>\n
\"The present situation is fairly good compared to selling
\ncoconuts, which can only be harvested every four months,\" said
\nSuparmi.<\/p>\n
Apparently the farmers are not aware of the need to plant
\nyoung coconut seeds, raising concerns that once the trees are
\ngone, the farmers will lose their work and income.<\/p>\n
Coconut trees can be tapped when they are 10 to 40 years old.
\nSo in a span of 30 years the farmers have sufficient time to grow
\nnew seeds.<\/p>\n
\"I know that the level of awareness of the farmers tapping
\nlegen, especially in the hills, is low in terms of the need for
\nregreening,\" said Sugito, an official of the Kulonprogo
\nPlantation Agency.<\/p>\n
With other agencies, he gives information on fertilizer use
\nand the right way to tap legen to the farmers to help increase
\ntheir productivity and income.<\/p>\n
Now the plantation agency is cultivating a variety of superior
\ncoconut seeds amounting to 8,000 hybrid young coconut trees at
\nNggarongan, Panjatan, Kulonprogo. It plans to distribute them in
\n12 subdistricts that require regreening.<\/p>\n
Hybrid coconut trees are superior in that they yield 30 to 40
\ncoconuts each in three months. Local coconut trees only produce
\naround 10 to 15 coconuts each in four months. The quantity of
\nlegen extracted is far higher, up to three liters depending on
\nthe weather.<\/p>\n
\"If a coconut tree does not yield coconuts, it is better to
\ntap it first. A year later, it will produce plenty of coconuts,\"
\nsaid Sugito.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/coconuts-bring-livelihood-to-menoreh-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}