Arid land in Bangunkerto turned into 'salak' orchards

By Ridlo Aryanto

SLEMAN, Yogyakarta (JP): If ever you are in Bangunkerto village, Turi subdistrict, Sleman, some 17 kilometers north of Yogyakarta, you can let your eyes feast upon the ubiquitous snake fruit trees, or salak pondoh. One estimate has it there are some three million luxuriant salak pondoh laden with fruit around the village.

It was not until 1988, however, that the Bangunkerto villagers realized there was a great demand for the fruit, which is one of the most popular oleh-oleh (souvenir) for people visiting Yogyakarta.

The farmers can demand a high price for the fruit, favored for its sweet, crisp, white flesh. Realizing the fast-growing demand for salak pondoh, Bangunkerto villagers began to work seriously to turn arid land, where cashew plants were previously grown, into productive salak pondoh orchards.

"This village has over 15 hectares of salak pondoh orchards, 75 percent of which have yielded fruit," said Subardjo, one of the village's community leaders.

As the fame of salak pondoh has traveled far and wide, reaching Malaysia, Singapore and even England, more and more people, from Indonesia and abroad, have come to this village simply to see the salak pondoh and pick the fruit, a trend that Arifin Ilyas, the then regent of Sleman, seized to promote agrotourism in Bangunkerto.

"Back in 1992, there was a five-hectare plot of barren and unproductive land belonging to the village administration. After a long discussion with the local administration, Sleman regency, through its tourism service, turned the land into a tourist spot offering sweet and crispy salak to visitors.

"Over one million salak pondoh have been planted in this area, in the middle of which there is a fishing pond as well as facilities for water sports for small children. The management of this tourist spot has been left entirely to village officials," said Arifin Ilyas, who retired in 2000.

The year 1995 marked not only the first harvest of the fruit, but also the official opening of this area for agrotourism. As agreed, the management was left to local institutions.

"You only have to pay Rp 1,000 and you are free to enjoy the salak pondoh. You can also visit a snake fruit museum, where you can see a collection of Indonesian snake fruit varieties," said Subardjo, adding that even the world-renowned Bogor Botanical Gardens could not compare with the museum in this village in terms of its collection of salak varieties.

Tired of walking around the salak pondoh orchards? Pay another Rp 1,000 and you can ride around the artificial lake located in the middle of an orchard.

Your visit to Bangunkerto will not be complete unless you enjoy salak picked right from the trees. For this, you have to pay Rp 3,5000 per kilo of salak that you pick yourself. While eating the fruit that you have just picked is its own attraction, careless picking will cause the rest of the fruit on the tree to rot.

"This is really a problem because a visitor is usually tempted to pick the largest fruit on the upper part of the bunch. Picking the fruit this way will cause the other fruit in the bunch to rot," said Prayitno, one of the tour guides in this salak pondoh orchard.

Tour guides have been employed in this salak pondoh orchard since 1997 to provide information about the varieties of salak in the museum and to help visitors pick the fruit correctly. A guide's fee usually depends on the number of salak picked.

Unfortunately, there are not enough salak pondoh for the number of visitors coming to this agrotourism spot. On weekdays, there are only dozens of tourists but on Sundays or holidays thousands of tourists visit. To solve this problem, there has been an arrangement since 1998 to send visitors and their guides to villagers' gardens, Subardjo said.

He added that thanks to this arrangement, both the village administration and the villagers benefited from the agrotourism. Tourists will first enjoy the facilities provided at the agrotourism spot and then go to villagers' salak pondoh gardens to enjoy the sweet and crispy fruit.

Prastowo, one of the villagers, said that prior to the harvest they set the price at Rp 5,000 per kilogram of fruit, while the price is Rp 3,500/kg in the tourist spot.

He said that it was often the case that many visitors, despite the presence of their guides, would pick the fruit they desired by themselves, therefore making it more likely that the fruit left on the tree would rot. Hence the higher price to make up for the risk, said Prastowo.

Nina, who was visiting from Bandung to try the sweet and fresh salak, said there was more satisfaction in picking the salak by yourself.

Salak also make a good souvenir and locals sell the fruit along all the routes taken by public transportation vehicles. When there is a good harvest of salak, usually from January to April, the fruit costs between Rp 2,500 and Rp 3,500 per kilogram, but in other months the price can double. Large salak of "super quality" will cost you Rp 5,500 to Rp 6,000 per kilogram all year round.

How do you get to Bangunkerto? If you start from the Yogya Monument in Yogyakarta, go straight ahead for 17 km before you come to the Ngablak crossroads. To the east of Ngablak you can find the gate to this salak pondoh agrotourism spot. You can also take a different route using public transportation, which will cost you Rp 1,000. Whichever route you take, you can enjoy the uniquely green landscape at the foot of Mt. Merapi, an active volcano still belching out lava and becoming increasingly more exotic.