Conserving the sweet tree of life in Padasuka village

By Aparna Devere

PADASUKA, West Java: The winding weather-beaten tracks lead to the village. The mini bus comes only once in a while, making the perilous journey up and down the steep mountains. Life stands still here except for the occasional prayer calls from the small mosque and the rooster, shrieking through the dawn. The clouds lower themselves on the serene hills as the farmers trudge their way down to start their day.

At the foot of a hill, amidst the rice fields is a spartan bamboo cottage that belongs to the Effendis, ibu Effendi sits by the fire in her smoke-filled kitchen, stirring a boiling cauldron as the liquid thickens into sugar. "I have been making sugar from aren all my life," says Bapak Effendi, her husband. "That is how I earn my living." He hands out warm glasses of tea and adds a little home-made brown sugar.

The children stay close to their mother, watching her stoke the flame with more firewood. The mountain air makes them radiant.

Bapak Effendi is a small farmer in Padasuka village, West Java, 300 kilometers southeast of Jakarta. He is dependent on the Arenga pinata or aren tree for his livelihood like most others in his village and the surrounding areas of Cianjur district. He has little contact with the outside world apart from knowing that the "city people" buy and eat his goods. Few people go in and out of Padasuka with muddy lanes and mountains terrain that vehicles find difficult to access.

Each day, in the early hours of the morning, he climbs and taps the aren tree, placing a long bamboo pole on the bark of the tree. In the evening he brings the brown liquid or aren sap, collected in the bamboo, home to his wife. Ibu Effendi heats and stirs the liquid in a large pot for several hours until it thickens. Then they make either blocks of this sugar or powder, dry it in the sun and hand it over to the local collector.

Bapak Effendi with his family of six make nearly two tons of sugar a month, earning an average of Rp 200,000. Making aren sugar is along and arduous process for the family but they are cheerful and accepts it as a way of life. During Idul Fitri, he earns more because he sells kolang-kaling or the fruit of the aren tree, made into sweets. "City people like the fruit and there is a great demand for it during that time of the year." He also sells the branches to make ijuk or straw for brooms.

Bapak Effendi, like most other villagers in Padasuka, believes that the aren tree, always abundant in this region, was a gift of God. "We always thought there would be plenty for everyone and nature would take care of it," he says. The villagers left it to the musang civet to reproduce the tree, by eating the fruit and leaving their droppings behind. But civets were killed by the villagers as they ate their poultry, causing a subsequent decline in the aren population.

A rapid depletion of aren trees created concern amongst the village community but they remained convinced that only nature could save the aren. No one questioned age-old beliefs.

A Bandung based Non Governmental Organization (NGO) took up the challenge. Yayasan Mandiri, who had been actively involved in Padasuka since the 1980's, decided to assist the villagers in cultivating aren. The first step was to overcome the villagers reluctance, by holding discussions with them. Once they were convinced, the villagers immersed themselves in this task.

Mandiri, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme, launched an aren cultivation project three years ago, using a plot of land provided by the villagers. Mandiri staff worked along side the villagers, experimenting with ways to grow aren. Thirty thousand aren seedlings were grown in individual polyethylene bags and turned under bamboo shelters.

Once the seedlings grew into small plants, the bags were taken by individual farmers to their own plots of land and transferred into the soil. Along with aren, seedlings of the menii and albasia tree were also planted to protect the aren, and later, to be used for firewood required to heat the aren sap.

Some were more enthusiastic that others. Bapak Engkos Kosasih planted 100 seedlings on his land. "I plan to plant 200 more once the rainy season comes," he says, standing proudly amidst his seedlings. Bapak Effendi was more cautious. He planted 20 and will wait and see whether it is worth planting more.

Bapak Kosasih's plot of land is located on a hill. The climb is steep and the planting area is difficult to reach. He checks periodically on the health of his seedlings and is pleased to see they are doing well, "This will be my gift to my children," he notes sentimentally.

Most of the seedlings have planted on hill sides under Yayasan Mandiri's advice. The aren tree, known for it's strong roots, is very effective in protecting the soil. "Plant an aren tree and you are preventing soil erosion, conserving water, protecting the environment and earning a living," says Yudi Satriadi of Mandiri.

This project could be implemented due to the support of the Global Environment Facility's Small Grants Programme, administered by UNDP. The GEF-SGP provides monetary support to NGO's like Mandiri in developing countries. Mandiri's proposal was one of the first to be approved when the GEF-SGP was launched in Indonesia in October 1992, "We approved the proposal because we were confident it would work. It had the village people's participation in addition to Mandiri's credibility in managing environmental issues," says Judith Simbara, UNDP's Programme Assistant.

With a grant of US$41,000 from the GEF-SGP, Mandiri began work on its two year aren project in mid-1993. The funds enabled Mandiri to buy seedlings, set up the nursery in the village and publish 3,000 booklets on aren cultivation, distributed to neighboring villages.

Mandiri's efforts in Padasuka over the past ten years have helped them establish a close relationship with the village community. "When the villagers are angry or disagree with us or if they need our help. they are very blunt and open. So are we with them," says Bapak Muharram, Mandiri's project coordinator.

Although the project was officially completed last year, Mandiri workers return every two months. "We know they are always around, like family" says Bapak Effendi echoing the sentiments of many villagers.

"We have a deep relationship with Padasuka. We started out here and even if we move to other parts of the country, we will always return to Padasuka," adds Muharram.

The NGO also shares a good rapport with the local government. According to Bapak Aceng Kurnia, the village head of Padasuka," We have always supported Mandiri because of the good work they have done here."

Mandiri, set up in 1979 by a group of ITB (Institute of Technology Bandung) students, has been involved in a wide range of activities in Padasuka from helping set up micro-hydro power turbines, providing villagers with electricity to aren cultivation. Part of their work in the villages has been to train people in making palm sugar.

Take the case of Bapak Mohammad. Earlier he made only block sugar (used in cooking) which he then sold to a village collector. But block sugar's market prices fluctuated, sometimes sharply reducing his income. Now, with Mandiri's help, he also makes palm sugar (brown powder). He alternates between block and palm sugar depending on their market value. Exported to European markets, palm sugar can fetch a better price than block sugar, used domestically.

Mandiri has appointed a local collector who transports the palm sugar to Bandung twice a month. There, another NGO, IBEKA, affiliated to Mandiri, handles the processing, packaging and marketing. "This has greatly facilitated villagers getting their products to the markets. Earlier the collector would go house to house an often he would not come, due to the poor road conditions and remote location" says Pak Marko, Mandiri's designed collector. Now, the villagers deposit their weekly stock in a small collection center manned by Pak Marko.

Uncertain market conditions for palm sugar a cause of concern for many villagers. They would like to see greater income- generating opportunities in their village that will improve their like lives and prevent the young generation from leaving for the cities. For now, protecting their present income and ensuring the survival for home-made sugar production is what the aren cultivation project is all about.

The immediate results of Mandiri's campaign to protect and nurture the aren tree has been the closure of aci factories in Padasuka. Aci, a fine powder produced from the bark by chopping the aren tree was a significant source of revenue for the villagers. Four aci factories were operating three years ago. Today they appear desolated and are lying abandoned. "People began to realize that cutting the aren tree may give quick benefits but will be harmful in the long term," says Yudi.

The aren project has helped to open the villagers eyes in how best they can use their natural environment to their benefit and preserve it for their children. People like Bapak Effendi can hope for a better future for themselves and their families while living in the village itself. Padasuka with its naturally rich and verdant land is an assets to the village community, which they are now beginning to recognize.

-- UNDP