Crisis means tight competition for rice scavengers
By Agus Martono
PURWOKERTO, Banyumas (JP): Sweat pours down the wrinkled face of the 72-year-old Wasem. Despite the heat of the noonday sun on the paddy field, she persists in sorting the leftover dried rice stalks from a recent harvest. She continues working with her own hand-made tools, making sure that there is not a single grain of rice, that could be collected from the stalks, remaining.
Every once in a while, she wipes the sweat off her brow and looks over at the rice grains that she has managed to collect in her sack. Then she reaches for an Aqua bottle filled with tea and slowly sips it, relishing every drop, then she squats, returning to her tiresome task.
Wasem is one of the so-called buruh granting from a number of villages in the region of Banyumas and Cilacap, Central Java, who scrutinize leftover dried rice stalks to collect as many grains of rice as possible after a harvest. The number of these workers at the recent harvest season has multiplied. From the thousands of buruh granting in the area, 90 percent of them are old women like Wasem.
Before the economic crisis struck, buruh granting already existed. It was a job for those whose daily earnings did not meet their needs. The economic turmoil enveloping the country has caused their numbers to increase dramatically.
"Then, there were only a few people who would want to do this job. But now, the number is increasing," Wasem told The Jakarta Post, while working on a paddy field in the village of Karangnanas, Sokaraja district, Banyumas.
There is no other object that they are after but rice grains, which have suddenly became a rare commodity.
"What other work is there available? We can not afford to buy the rice. My children need food. I do this because I have to. I don't have any other options to survive," Gureng, a 60-year-old woman, said.
There are at least 50 people like Wasem and Gureng who collect rice grains on each paddy field.
The dramatic increase in the number of workers has unfortunately also influenced the amount of rice that they are able to collect. Before the economic crisis, they were able to collect up to 20 kilograms of gabah (unhulled rice separated from the stalk). Now, to merely attain 5 kg, these laborers have to compete for it. Quiet quarrels often erupt between them, causing a breakdown in what used to be a close relationship.
Usually, these laborers go in groups to look for suitable areas where they can start their work. To look for these areas, they often have to walk long distances, leaving their homes before the sun rises and returning just as the sun sets. They are easy to recognize, wearing caping (traditional bamboo hats) and carrying a rinjing (a sort of sack made from woven bamboo shoots) on their back. Inside these bags is a hand-made tool, a board measuring 30 x 30 centimeters which has a nailed in steel chain on one side.
The small amount attainable due to the vast numbers of granting labors is also felt by Wasem. The old woman, who has been doing the work since the 1980s, admits that she can not do much due to the fierce competition.
"I used to be able to bring home 20 kg of rice. Now, to be able to collect 5 kg, I have to really fight for it," she said. "I do not know if this is also due to the crisis ", she added plaintively. With a handful of stalks which she continues to "scrub", Wasem added that this recent harvest was not as satisfying for her as it was two or three years ago.
Wasem puts together the grains she has collected over the last five days and then dries them under sun. It is already a tradition in the community that when the rice grains are dry, they are crushed using traditional tools, the alu (rice stammer) and lesung (rice mortar). According to Wasem, after crushing, only 10 kg to 12 kg will be become rice as we know it.
There is an interesting phenomenon that arises behind the increasing number of laborers. In Doplang village, Adipala district, in the Cilacap region, quite a number of the laborers try to cheat the paddy field owners. In carrying out their activities, the women cooperate with their husbands, who work in the fields collecting the harvest. "This is how they do it, the husband and his wife work together side by side. When the rice grains haven't really be scrubbed off the rice stalks, the husband has already given them to his wife. It is obvious that this way the wife will be able to collect more," said Mudiharjo, a 50-year-old paddy field owner in Sikampuh village, Kroya district, Cilacap.
"We don't know how to resolve this problem, if we don't allow them, they will say that we are greedy. On the other hand if this keeps going on, we will be the ones who have to suffer the loss," Mudiharjo said. "The best compromise is for us to keep an eye on our workers. If I sense something wrong, especially when their wives or relatives are also there, I warn them," he added.
Another thing that is most unwelcome to the paddy field owners is the occurrence of theft by the women who collect the grains after the harvest. Even though there are not many who attempt this, it is still a big loss. "Often our dried rice stalks disappear, perhaps this does not happen much, but if it persists, I won't have any left," says a field owner who is sure that his stocks were stolen by the laborers.