SE Sulawesi handicrafts saved<\/p>\n
By La Ode Aminuddin<\/p>\n
KENDARI, Southeast Sulawesi (Antara): When nentu handicraft
\nworkers in Muna regency, Southeast Sulawesi, were disinclined to
\nmake handicrafts characteristic of the area due to a lack of
\ncustomers and low prices -- a village woman took up the business.<\/p>\n
Wa Nia, 45, a resident of Korihi village, Katobu subdistrict
\nin Muna, was optimistic in 1998 that handicrafts made of plaited
\nnentu (rattan-like forest plants) would be much in demand because
\nit does not exist in other regions.<\/p>\n
\"When I started the business, many people in the village
\ncalled me crazy because I worked on something that they
\nconsidered not worth the energy because the price was low,\" said
\nNia, a mother of five.<\/p>\n
One needs a lot of time and effort to produce a nentu item. A
\ncake basket called bosara, for example, takes a worker one week
\nto produce while the price is only Rp 25,000 (US$3), and few
\npeople are interested in buying it.<\/p>\n
It is increasingly difficult to find the nentu material for
\nhandicrafts. The plant grows only on Muna island, where workers
\nhave to go a great distance to find it. Often, one has to spend
\nthe whole day to gather a mere 20 kilograms of the plant.<\/p>\n
Nia said that at first she was discouraged by the prospect of
\nthe back-breaking work entailed in finding the raw material, but
\nher motivation to preserve handicrafts characteristic of Muna
\neventually overcame her discouragement.<\/p>\n
Although nentu handicrafts do not sell very well, she has not
\nbeen discouraged and continues making them. She does not care
\nwhether her products sell now, next week or next month.<\/p>\n
The determination of the farmer's wife to preserve nentu
\nhandicrafts has won the interest of the Family Welfare Movement
\nof the local subdistrict. The organization always involves Nia in
\nevery exhibition it organizes.<\/p>\n
She has also drawn the attention of the industry and trade
\nministry's office in Muna. Officials have involved her in a
\nseries of training programs, at regency, provincial and national
\nlevels.<\/p>\n
\"The training programs have helped me sharpen my skills and
\ndevelop my business know-how as well as problem-solving,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Wa Nia, a junior high school graduate, made the first
\nbreakthrough for her handicraft business by involving the
\nNational Handicraft Agency at both regional and provincial
\nlevels.<\/p>\n
She sell her products, generally household items, through the
\nlocal representative office of the National Handicraft Agency and
\nshops in the towns of Raha and Kendari.<\/p>\n
\"The system works. In the past, when I handled the marketing
\nby myself, only three or four items were sold each month, but now
\nthe figure has increased to 50,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The price of her products has also increased. For instance,
\nthe price of a bosara has risen from Rp 25,000 to Rp 45,000; a
\nkey ring from Rp 1,000 to Rp 2,500.<\/p>\n
Now, Nia is overwhelmed with orders. To meet soaring orders,
\nNia has recruited women from the neighborhood to develop the
\nbusiness.<\/p>\n
At the beginning, she recruited 10 women workers and formed a
\ncompany she called Nentu Mekar Baru. With the business
\ncontinuously growing, she now employs 60 workers.<\/p>\n
\"With the existing workforce, I still cannot fulfill the
\nincoming orders worth Rp 25 million a month. We are able to meet
\norders worth Rp 5 million a month,\" said Nia.<\/p>\n
The orders mostly come from Ujungpandang, Jakarta and
\nSurabaya. The most serious problem hampering production capacity
\nis the lack of human resources, according to Nina.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the supply of raw material is also a problem because
\nthe forest where the nentu plant grows on Muna island has shrunk
\ndue to the development of residential areas, plantations and land
\nclearance for food crops.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the woman who makes a monthly net profit of at
\nleast Rp 3 million has appealed to the Muna regional
\nadministration and other related agencies to preserve the forest
\nwhere nentu grows.<\/p>\n
No technology<\/p>\n
To improve workers' skills and increase productivity, Nentu
\nMekar Baru holds monthly training programs. Sometimes she
\ninvolves instructors from the regency administration.<\/p>\n
\"These handicrafts cannot make use of technology to increase
\nproductivity because all the work is done by hand. Therefore I
\ntry to upgrade the workers' skills,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Through training that emphasizes the technique of neat and
\nfast plaiting, the women workers from poor families are now able
\nto finish a bosara in one week. In the past they needed two
\nweeks.<\/p>\n
Nia, who won an Upakarti Award from the Central government in
\n1993 in recognition for her dedication, is considering recruiting
\nand training women workers from neighboring subdistricts in a bid
\nto improve her company's productivity.<\/p>\n
\"In fact the idea came to me a long time ago but it never
\nmaterialized because of my limited capital. Fortunately, People's
\nProsperity Business Credit (an antipoverty drive, Kukesra) has
\noffered aid amounting to Rp 25 million,\" said Nia.<\/p>\n
Her ambition is to make nentu handicrafts one of Southeast
\nSulawesi's main non-oil export commodities. Beside her, there are
\nanother 15 such handicraft producers throughout the province.<\/p>\n
Therefore, apart from increasing production, she is also
\nimproving the quality of her products and is always trying to
\ninvolve herself in export-oriented activities.<\/p>\n
\"When I participated in an exhibition in Jakarta in 1996, a
\nSouth Korean businessman asked me to export 1,000 bosara per
\nmonth. I had to refuse the offer because at that time I could not
\nproduce that many,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Nia's perseverance in the development of nentu handicrafts has
\nbeen recognized by the National Handicraft Agency chairwoman in
\nSoutheast Sulawesi, Mrs. Andi Norma Kaimoeddin, who says that in
\nher opinion the village woman is the most meritorious in the
\ndevelopment of nentu handicrafts in Southeast Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
Maju Ilias Padang, chief of the industry and trade ministry's
\nregional office in Southeast Sulawesi, says the village woman is
\na pioneer because she had the backbone to start her business when
\neveryone else had quit because it was considered no longer
\nprofitable. And she has succeeded.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/se-sulawesi-handicrafts-saved-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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