Palm sugar makers stuck in bitter bind of debt<\/p>\n
By Agus Maryono<\/p>\n
PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): For all his 60 years, Munarjo
\ncan still agilely climb a 12-meter-high palm tree.<\/p>\n
Two empty sap-collecting bamboo tubes, each about 50 cm long,
\nhang from his waist. Bare-chested, he jumps onto the tree stem
\nand midrib to affix the tubes to the tip of fruit ovules. Then
\nthe old man clambers down, taking with him tubes containing
\nliquid.<\/p>\n
The sap, from which palm or brown sugar is made, drips from
\nthe tip of the budding fruits.<\/p>\n
The resident of Pagerraji village, Cilongok subdistrict,
\nBanyumas district, like thousands of others, depends on the
\nprecious fluid for his living.<\/p>\n
Age has not slowed him as he scales 40 trees every day, split
\nbetween morning and afternoon work sessions.<\/p>\n
It is arduous work, and the rewards are small.<\/p>\n
\"We used to earn just enough to keep body and soul together.
\nLately, however, our earnings have not been enough to buy rice,
\nespecially because the price of rice is not on par with palm
\nsugar,\" Munarjo told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
\"When the price of rice was still Rp 800 per kilogram, we
\ncould get enough to eat. Now it is Rp 3,200 per kilogram.\"<\/p>\n
Demand for palm sugar increases during the Muslim fasting
\nmonth of Ramadhan. A favorite food for breaking the fast is
\nkolak, the sweet compote of starchy fruits or vegetables in
\ncoconut milk and palm sugar.<\/p>\n
This year, its market price jumped from Rp 2,600\/kilogram to
\nRp 3,300\/kilogram.<\/p>\n
\"Even though the price of palm sugar in the market has
\nincreased, we have to sell it to the pengepul (broker) for Rp
\n1,800 per kilogram,\" Munarjo complained.<\/p>\n
Brokers purchase the commodity long before it is collected.<\/p>\n
\"One of the brokers told us the price was decided in Jakarta,\"
\nsaid Nuridin, 41, another palm sugar maker from the village.<\/p>\n
He cannot sell directly on the market because he is committed
\nby a loan to supply his broker. \"He often offers me loans.\"<\/p>\n
Loans act as the moral bind as well in continuing the
\nrelationship with the brokers. He said almost all palm sugar
\nmakers have taken loans, with amounts ranging from Rp 100,000 to
\nRp 500,000, and sometimes even more.<\/p>\n
\"These debts will never be paid off because brokers never
\nasked us to pay them back. They even reject the payment of our
\ndebts.\"<\/p>\n
Nuridin admitted he owes Rp 300,000 to his broker.<\/p>\n
Loans come with a catch. Brokers expect the makers to sell
\ntheir sugar to them at prices lower than going market prices. The
\nsystem, known as ijon, has kept people like Munarjo and Nuridin
\nin a cycle of debt and poverty for years.<\/p>\n
Arif Wahidin, an activist of institute working with Banyumas
\npalm sugar makers since 1994, told the Post the ijon system
\nshackled the makers in poverty because they needed loans from
\ntraders to meet daily needs. \"This system is very disadvantageous
\nto palm sugar makers.\"<\/p>\n
Nuridin acknowledged the trap.<\/p>\n
\"Nowadays, prices of daily necessities have gone up and palm
\nsugar makers can only take more loans from traders to cover their
\nliving expenses.\"<\/p>\n
It takes an average of seven hours to make palm sugar, in
\nexhausting process. It is women's work.<\/p>\n
Although men collect the sap and lend a hand in the molding
\nprocess, their wives take care of the processing of the palm
\nsugar.<\/p>\n
Nuridin's wife processes the sap into sugar after he collects
\nthe liquid twice a day, at 6 a.m. and 4 p.m.<\/p>\n
In the morning, he can fill up to half of the bamboo tube, but
\nin the afternoon he can hope for a quarter full at the most. He
\nusually puts two tubes on each tree.<\/p>\n
Nuridin, who has 25 coconut trees, collects an average of 35
\nliters of sap a day, enough to make five kg of palm sugar.<\/p>\n
Nuridin's wife cooks the sap for four to five hours until it
\nboils.<\/p>\n
\"It is then stirred for about an hour to let it thicken,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The thickened sap is put into a mold, which may be made from
\nbamboo or concave metal shape, to cool and harden into sugar.<\/p>\n
According to data compiled by the industry ministry office in
\nBanyumas district, there are 28,773 palm sugar-making business
\nunits in Banyumas, employing about 58,529 workers. An official of
\nthe agency, Soepriyadi, said 24 of 27 subdistricts in Banyumas
\ndistrict produce palm sugar.<\/p>\n
He said 75 percent went to Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Cirebon,
\nSemarang and other cities, for export to Singapore, Malaysia, the
\nMiddle East and Europe. The remaining 25 percent fulfills the
\ndemand in Banyumas.<\/p>\n
Joint research conducted by the industry ministry and the
\nInstitute for Research and Development of Resources and the
\nEnvironment of Purwokerto in 1995 showed complicated and
\nprotracted marketing of the product from the palm sugar maker to
\nthe consumers.<\/p>\n
The products moves through an extended chain from
\nbrokers\/small-scale traders to medium-scale traders, large-scale
\ntraders, distributors and retailers, respectively.<\/p>\n
\"Maybe we will set up a palm sugar makers' cooperative to make
\nsure that the marketing process will be shortened,\" Soepriyadi
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Arif Wahidin, an activist of institute, meanwhile told the
\nPost that the worst thing for palm sugar makers is the fact that
\nthey are shackled with the ijon system because they need loans
\nfrom the brokers to fulfill their daily needs. \"This system is
\nvery disadvantageous to palm sugar makers.\" said Wahidin, who has
\nbeen assisting palm sugar makers in Banyumas since 1994.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/palm-sugar-makers-stuck-in-bitter-bind-of-debt-1447893297",
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