Duck rearing more than mere dabbling
By Agus Maryono
PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): In the middle of a vast expanse of rice fields, under a torrid sun, a young man quietly tends to hundreds of ducks pecking at rice grains and straws not far from where he is standing. He is feverishly smoking a cigarette. Later, he whistles repeatedly and the ducks come and stand around him. He scatters corn, which the ducks welcome with a lot of quacking while they fight for the feed. He does not care about the scorching heat of the sun during long hours everyday that has deeply tanned his skin as he keeps ducks for a living.
Santo, 17, lives in Karangsoka village, Kembaran subdistrict, Banyumas regency, Central Java. He is one of 50 traditional duck breeders in Banyumas. They continue to exist amid other breeders who are out of business due to the protracted economic crisis.
Santo herds ducks every day for an average of eight hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. "If I do not tend to the ducks just one day, I feel very sorry. The ducks cry out loudly when they see me come home because they want to be freed from their pens," said Santo when The Jakarta Post met him in a rice field in Bojongsari, three kilometers from his village.
"I am grateful that I can still eat in this time of crisis. I even earn more now from these ducks than before the crisis," said Santo, who only finished third grade elementary school because he was strongly attracted to duck eggs.
Santo, with his 200 ducks, earns about Rp 2 million a month; which is based on the sale of duck eggs. Seventy percent of the ducks, which are six months old or older, lay eggs every day. Thirty percent of the ducks are usually under six months. "This is to replace the older ones which have stopped laying eggs so there is no vacuum in the production," said Santo.
Fellow duck herder Ruswan, 20, confirms this. Ruswan comes from the same village and owns 150 ducks. Both have been in the duck egg business for more than nine years.
Santo says that he sells duck eggs to a collector for Rp 650 each. He spends Rp 20,000 each day for 20 kgs of corn mixed with loyang (dried rice) to feed the ducks. Yet, he still makes more than Rp 70,000 a day, or Rp 2,100,000 a month.
"If there is no problem in feed supply, a duck can lay eggs for seven months," said Santo. They never take a day off.
"Every three days the collector comes to get the eggs at home. At that time, we receive payment after deduction of the price of the feed," said Santo, who buys feed from the same man. Santo says that between him and the collector there is an unwritten agreement that in his opinion is mutually beneficial. The need for duck feed is met by the collector, who is paid the feed by the sale of eggs.
"Besides, when I need a fairly large amount of money, I can borrow it from him," said Santo, who feels obliged to sell his eggs to this man.
The traditional way of egg laying is, according to Santo and Ruswan, both easy and difficult.
"The easy part of it is that if you tend the ducks everyday they will lay eggs regularly. Difficulties happen when the birds are not herded. Then, the process of laying eggs is not smooth," said Santo. In that case additional mixed corn feed will not help the process, he said.
Santo and his colleagues buy their ducks from a duck salesman. The closest one is in Tegal and Sumpiuh, east of Banyumas. They acquire ducks of different ages according to available funds. One-week-old ducklings cost Rp 5,500 each, two-month-old ducks cost Rp 15,000 each and egg-laying ducks, six months old, are priced Rp 40,000 each. The duck farmers have no equipment to hatch eggs.
"The prices have been affected by the monetary crisis. Before the crisis, a two-month-old duck cost Rp 1,500. Fortunately, eggs have also increased in price from Rp 150 to Rp 650 a piece," said Santo.
Pens fenced in with bamboo are made to accommodate the newly bought ducks close to the tile-less house. Each day, the task of the farmer is only to go to the rice field followed by the ducks. "But we take feed with us for the ducks because there may be not enough food in the rice field," said Santo.
Travel
To find feed in harvested rice fields, these traditional duck farmers are not only prepared to expose themselves to the sun and the rain but also to leave their homes for a couple of months at a time. Traveling far, they leave their regency with their hundreds of ducks in search of rice fields at harvest time. The search for rice fields in other regions is called buara. "We travel especially if we run out of the closest places of harvested areas," said Santo, who usually travel up to three or four months, taking with him a minimum of 150 ducks. "If I take fewer than 100 ducks, for example, there will not be enough eggs and I lose in terms of labor," said Ruswan.
During their journey, they are content to sleep on mats in the rice fields. The mats are placed on straw in a small cottage also made of straw or coconut tree stems.
"Our ducks automatically sleep around the cottage. It is not possible they will go far," said Santo, who once traveled to Kebumen and Cilacap, 70 kms from his place in Purwokerto.
"Each day, we cook our rice in the fields and eat it with some dishes, but often only with some salt. We never make dishes from our duck eggs. This is taboo for the duck farmers so that the egg production remains unhampered," said Ruswan and Santo.
Five groups leave their homes together (one group comprises one farmer and a minimum of 150 ducks) but the ducks do not mix when they go to sleep. They stay in their respective groups. This unique feature makes it easy for the farmers to collect their eggs because there is no risk of taking a colleague's eggs. "Every day during traveling, one of our relatives comes to collect the eggs, sometimes a collector comes himself," said Santo, who always informs his collector of his whereabouts.
"In one year, most of us travel only once, but some make two trips," Ruswan added.
Their present income, compared to before the crisis, is, according to the two duck farmers, higher but has less buying power. Their savings, too, are smaller now. "Our income is higher after the monetary crisis compared to our condition before. But the problem is the price increases of rice, sugar and other essential commodities. That is the reason for our reduced savings," said Santo, who said he had savings amounting to Rp 5 million from the sale of duck eggs in the past 10 months.