Dry season, high time to harvest 'land shrimp'

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Gunungkidul

While the dry season means hard times for many Gunungkidul residents, for others it is the best time of the year because it is the season for grasshoppers, locally known as "land shrimp".

Residents of Playen, Paliyan and Saptosari districts are able to stroll around their neighborhoods with nets collecting grasshoppers, which they then sell to customers who take the insects home to cook as snacks.

"We have been harvesting grasshoppers for a month now and we will be able to keep doing it for another two months. The income is not too bad, it is some extra money when there is no work in the rice fields," said 21-year-old Darno, a resident of Lemah Abang hamlet in Paliyan, Gunung Kidul, who was selling his "shrimp" on the side of the road.

It is easy to get started in the business. All residents need is a long piece of bamboo or wood with a net on the end.

Darno and other villagers start their hunt every day at about 7 a.m., and by 11 a.m. they are carrying two bundles of grasshoppers that they can sell for Rp 10,000 (about US$1).

The residents sell the grasshoppers on the roadside and do not have to work too hard to find customers.

There are dozens of people selling grasshoppers along Jl. Palihan-Playen. And on Jl. Gondang in Playen district, some 40 people selling grasshoppers are squeezed in along the small road.

"The streets in Playen and Paliyan are famous for their grasshoppers. I expect many more traders will start to come here from other places because this place is known as the place where you get grasshoppers," said a trader, Sugito, 34.

For Sugito, Darno and many other residents, grasshoppers are a blessing during the dry season when not much work is available in the rice fields because of the lack of water.

"I usually work construction but during this time of the year not much work is available, so I support my family by selling grasshoppers," said Sugito, a father of three.

He can make about Rp 30,000 a day selling grasshoppers.

"Even rich people like buying the grasshoppers. So even though there are lots of people selling grasshoppers, all of them are sold out. We rarely have to eat the grasshoppers ourselves," Sugito said.

A customer, Yuli, 30, said she and her family always stopped by to buy grasshoppers whenever they were in Paliyan. She said she cooked the grasshoppers and ate them with a little sambal (chili sauce).

Another customer, Anton, who came to buy grasshoppers with his wife and two children from Darno, said grasshoppers were a tasty snack.

"I like eating grasshoppers because of the taste, especially when they are boiled with spices before being fried. Besides, they are high in protein and good for the children," he said.