Banyumas limestone quarriers put life on the lime

By Agus Maryono and Ngudi Utomo

PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): Saiman is 40, but he raced up the craggy rock face like a lithe house lizard.

Lingering acute economic hardships have forced several thousand limestone quarriers like Saiman to risk life and limb for their living in Darma Kradenan.

Without proper safety equipment, they scale steep local cliffs to collect limestone in the hope of earning a mere Rp 5,000 to Rp 7,000 (about 70 U.S. cents to $1) a day.

The financial gain may not seem worth the risk but the villagers in Ajibarang district, Banyumas regency, do not have better alternatives.

Armed with basic tools of hammers, pickaxes and crowbars, they hack the limestone cliffs in their village to sell the rock to local lime factories.

Locals say the "cliff hangers" numbered about 300 before the crisis hit in June 1997. Now, as the hardship lingers on, many people who lost their jobs in towns have turned to the work and the number reaches into the "thousands".

Dozens of trucks rumble in and out of the village carrying the rocks to the factories, which buy each cubic meter of lime stone for Rp 5,000.

Most quarriers are local villagers whose agility and experience allows them to scale the rocky cliff without a safety rope.

With their bare hands, they clamber up the crevice seemingly without fear of falling even though there have been reports of accidents resulting in injury and death.

"Courage is our prime capital," said Kamsito, 33, a quarrier since 1993. His standard tools consist of a bamboo ladder, crowbar and hammer.

He said he learned his skills from observing other quarriers.

"At the beginning, I wasn't very good at climbing and I fell down sometimes and was slightly injured," he recalls.

But there is nothing else to choose from.

"This job is the best of the alternatives in hand because it offers the most money, although the risk is obvious."

Kamsito, who is raising two children, is able to collect and sell one cubic meter of rock a day and admits the Rp 5,000 he earns is barely enough to make ends meet.

He will climb up to 20 meters onto the hill from where he crushes the white mass rock into lumps the size of an adult's head. When enough rocks are collected, a truck will approach and he hauls the rock onto the truck.

Saiman uses explosives to blast rock to a height of about 30 meters or more.

He is able to collect up to eight cubic meters of rock a day, but he claims his net income is still only about Rp 7,500 a day.

"The money is enough to buy food. In case I need a large sum of money, I have to borrow it from my employer," said the father of four.

Many villagers who lacking the guts and skill to quarry rock on the hill choose to work in the lime factories. Samijo, 48, became a porter at a lime factory after hurting himself while quarrying.

He earns Rp 100 for each bag of lime he packs and another Rp 300 for each meter he loads onto a truck. All in all, he gets Rp 6,500 a day for the toil.

The production process in the factory starts with lumps of rock being loaded into tobong, giant tubular structures where the rock is burned with either diesel or firewood.

The tobong belonging to Sangat, 50, is 15 meters tall and three meters in diameter. It spews thick smoke 24 hours a day.

"If we use a diesel stove, we can produce 12 cubic meters of lime a day. With firewood, we can produce eight cubic meters."

He said the rocks are soaked in saltwater to speed up the process.

The quality of limestone is visible by its color on the hill. Brownish white of the colors also including yellowish and blackish browns.

Highest grade limestone has risen in price from Rp 2,400 before the crisis to Rp 2,500 a bag. Lower grade costs Rp 2,300.

Sangad, who has been in the business for 10 years, said he produces 50 tons of lime a day. Each ton is sold for Rp 840,000.

The product is exported to other Central Java regencies of Temaggung, Magelang, Purbalingga, Bobotsari and Yogyakarta.