Crisis pushes West Java tea plantation workers to the edge<\/p>\n
By Kafil Yamin<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): The morning sun bathed the earth with its warm
\nlight. Women in Sundanese kebaya clothing and wide straw hats
\nwalked along an ascending track cutting through a vast tea
\nplantation. Their hats make them visible from quite a distance,
\nlike turtles creeping toward the hill top. This is a regular
\nscene during the tea harvest in Kabandungan village, Sukabumi,
\nWest Java.<\/p>\n
It is as if time stands still in the 350-hectare village. Such
\nscenes have been occurring in the village, with a population of
\n4,938, for over a hundred years, since the Dutch built the tea
\nplantation and put the locals to work on the estate.<\/p>\n
Today, the tea plantation is run by state firm PT Nusantara
\nVIII and the privately owned PT Jayanegara Indah. A small piece
\nof the plantation is managed by the villagers.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has been suffering through economic, social and
\npolitical crises, but life in this part of the country remains
\nlargely unaffected. The horizon of life here is limited to
\ntea plantations, farms, mosques and homes.<\/p>\n
Even when the country saw a remarkable economic growth of 7
\npercent, accompanied by the emergence of more prosperous and
\neducated layers of society and mushrooming corporations, the
\nincome of the Kabandungan villagers changed little.<\/p>\n
And when the economy collapsed, big enterprises went bankrupt
\nand some 100 million Indonesians fell back into poverty,
\nKabandungan villagers did not feel much of an effect.<\/p>\n
\"Yes, we consume lower quality rice and fewer side dishes, but
\nstill we lead the same life and do the same job we did in the
\npast. We don't think this will change in the future,\" said
\nRohmana, an elderly villager.<\/p>\n
A recent study by the Bandung-based AKATIGA social study
\ncenter shows that before the crisis, each plantation worker
\nearned Rp 65 for every kilogram of tea they picked. With an
\naverage of 25 to 40 kilograms of tea picked per day by a
\nplantation worker, pickers earned an average of Rp 1,625 (20 U.S.
\ncents) per day. They worked between 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.<\/p>\n
Before the crisis, with this average daily income, plantation
\nworkers could afford to buy one kilogram of rice, which cost Rp
\n1,000 per kilogram, modest side dishes and other basic
\nnecessities.<\/p>\n
After the crisis, daily wages for the workers were raised to
\nRp 90 per kilogram of harvested tea. This boosted workers' daily
\nincome to Rp 2,250. While the price of rice has continued to
\nclimb, the plantation workers can still afford to eat rice thanks
\nto the so-called labor intensive drive.<\/p>\n
This drive includes the utilization of every idle plot of
\nland. With the government encouraging the utilization of all
\nunused land, the workers, after finishing at the tea plantation,
\ntill the previously unused land for additional income.<\/p>\n
The plantation workers' rising wages are the result of the
\nrupiah's fall against the U.S. dollar. Even though the world
\ndemand for Indonesian tea has not risen, tea exporters' revenues
\nhave doubled and tripled in rupiah terms. In fact, the actual
\nvalue of the increased wages is still lower than the rupiah's
\ndepreciation.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is one of the five largest tea producers in the
\nworld, producing 150,000 tons per year. Unfortunately, its tea
\nexport volume plummeted to only 66,000 tons in 1998, a
\nsignificant drop from the 98,000 tons it exported in 1996. This
\nfall was largely the result of an oversupply in the world market,
\ncaused by large tea harvests in India, Sri Lanka and Kenya, three
\nof the world's leaders in tea production.<\/p>\n
Not only has this oversupply hit Indonesia's tea exports, but
\nit has also dragged down the price of Indonesian tea to US$1.30
\nper kilogram from US$2.75 per kilogram.<\/p>\n
At times, the cost of daily necessities rose beyond the
\nplantation workers' means. Six months ago, the price of lower
\nquality rice soared to Rp 3,250. The prices of other basic
\nnecessities, including sugar, cooking oil and wheat flour, also
\nskyrocketed. Now, with the prices of basic necessities relatively
\nstable, Kabandungan villagers can live a \"normal\" life.<\/p>\n
As in other parts of Indonesia, the tea pickers here are all
\nwomen. It is a common belief that picking is an exclusively
\nfemale task. The same is true in paddy fields, where harvest is
\nthe time for women.<\/p>\n
While women pick tea, men work on farms and earn almost twice
\nas much as the women. The men mostly work for landowners, who
\ngave the men a pay hike when the crisis hit. Before the crisis,
\nthe men earned Rp 3,500 for five hours of work on the farm. Now,
\nthe men get Rp 5,000 for the same work. Apart from the cash, they
\nalso receive four liters of rice for their toil.<\/p>\n
\"Altogether, my wife and I earn Rp 7,250 per day. That's just
\nenough for us to survive,\" said Sukardi, a Kabandungan villager
\nwho has three children.<\/p>\n
He admitted that times are harder now. Everyday he hears
\npeople talk about the \"economic crisis\", which he does not really
\nunderstand. \"I just think that economic crisis means harder work
\nand higher prices for basic necessities,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Cassava<\/p>\n
While Kabandungan villagers are able to survive the hardships
\nby taking part in the labor intensive drive, desperation reins
\namong laborers at PTP Nusantara VIII in Montaya village, Gunung
\nHalu, who are not included in the social safety net and labor
\nintensive programs.<\/p>\n
Also, the tea they pick is subject to \"quality examinations\"
\nwhich determine how much they will be paid.<\/p>\n
\"Once I picked 30 kilograms of tea in a day and I was paid
\nless than Rp 3,500. The company said the quality was low,\" said
\nSamsidar, 40, from Montaya.<\/p>\n
Since the crisis, Samsidar has been forced to mix her rice
\nwith cassava in order to feed his family.<\/p>\n
Djunaedi, her husband, spends the whole day on the farm. Like
\nhis fellow villagers, he grows vegetables, chili, bananas and
\ncorn. With fertilizer becoming more expensive and harder to
\nobtain, their crops are vulnerable to disease.<\/p>\n
\"During the last six months, diseases have hit our crops
\ntwice,\" Djunaedi said. \"This is the third planting. I don't know
\nwhat other troubles the farm will go through.\"<\/p>\n
Villagers in Montaya cannot afford to send their children to
\nschool. After graduating from primary school, boys will begin to
\nhelp their fathers work on the farm and daughters will be married
\noff.<\/p>\n
\"Girls should get married as soon as possible so that they are
\nno longer a burden to parents,\" Djunaedi said.<\/p>\n
He said he had always been a landless farmer. In this vast
\nagricultural area, more than 90 percent of Montaya villagers are
\nlandless.<\/p>\n
\"We belong to the land, not the other way around,\" he
\nmurmured.<\/p>",
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