Brief profile of successful Tolai farmers
Brief profile of successful Tolai farmers
TOLAI, Central Sulawesi (JP): Hard work has transformed Tolai from a wild jungle into a successful agricultural area. From morning until dusk Tolai villagers work in the rice fields. Some have become rich and own cars, and fine houses with satellite dishes. According to I Wayan Sukarya, the head the Tolai branch of the Bank Rakyat Indonesia, the money circulating in Tolai during harvest time is between Rp 60 million and Rp 100 million a day. Revenues from property and building tax are among the highest in Central Sulawesi.
Material success has enabled the Tolai people to educate their children, and many young people have degrees from universities in Bali, Java, North Sulawesi, or Palu university in the provincial capital. The following is a brief profile of a number of successful Tolai farmers:
I Nyoman Suweto, 55, has been Tolai village head for the past four years and is a successful farmer. In the beginning, he did not want to lead the village community, but as a pioneer in opening the Tolai forest, he felt a moral responsibility to further develop the area.
Soon after his induction as village head, Suweto built a village hall which is perhaps the most modern and expensive in Central Sulawesi. Decorated with typical Balinese engravings and inlaid with glazed floor tiles, the hall cost over Rp 100 million, most of which came straight from Suweto's pocket.
His wealth consists of land, a number of cars, houses, rice- hull mills and a cinema. He has five wives and eight children.
His first son is Tinus, a new graduate from the Trisakti school of medicine in Jakarta.
His second child is an economist, the third is a midwife and another one is still studying in Yogyakarta.
Suweto, a tall and sturdy man, burst out laughing when asked whether he wanted to marry again.
Sayem, 49, a Javanese, came to Tolai in 1969 with 200 families consisting of 1,000 people. She owns about 30 hectares of land, a number of cars, houses, rice-hull mills and shops.
With her husband I Nyoman Wetro, she is now also in trade. Her three sons and three daughters are studying at the Sam Ratulangie University in Manado, the National Education University in Bali, a senior high school in Tolai. Another has set up shop.
I Wayan Ardika, 51, is not a transmigrant. In 1975 he went to Tolai just to look around and became interested in starting a business. He is now the biggest rice trader in Tolai.
Many farmers prefer to sell their produce to Wayan than to the four village cooperatives in Tolai. He supplies an average of 2,000 tons of rice each harvest directly to the Palu logistics store houses.
He owns a number of trucks and other vehicles necessary for goods transportation. He also has huge rice fields. He has four children, two of whom are still studying at the National Education University in Bali. The other two are still at elementary and junior high schools.
Apart from those who have become rich and big businesspeople, there are of course farmers with only the two or three hectares of rice fields they were given by the government on their arrival. Among them is Sukadana, 45, who arrived in Tolai in 1970 and has four children. He says, as he feeds his water buffalo in the rain, that he only owns four hectares of rice fields, with an average yield of seven to eight tons of rice.
Nevertheless, like Sukadana, Tolai people are not poor. They are generally well-off and enjoy an above-average income.
These people make Tolai, a drop of Bali that has fallen into the jungles of Central Sulawesi.
-- Iriandi Ibrahim