Is there anyone not tempted by sweet melons?

Is there anyone not tempted by sweet melons?

By Antariksawan Jusuf

JAKARTA (JP): You may have never been to Java's easternmost
area of Banyuwangi but if you have tasted juicy sweet local
watermelon, you most probably have consumed the products from
that regency, known popularly as the land of the Gandrung erotic
dance.

In the wholesale market of Kramat Jati, East Jakarta,
Banyuwangi-produced watermelon is a trademark. It guarantees a
good quality product. To enhance their product, all fruit sellers
claim their watermelons are from Banyuwangi.

"In a sense, it is true," said Agus Ibrahim, one of the
watermelon sellers at Kramat Jati market.

Banyuwangi directly supplies some 60 percent of the total
watermelon available in Java's markets. The remaining are the
products of other regencies such as the neighboring East Java
towns of Jember, Situbondo, Probolinggo or Sidoarjo. Some come
from as far away as Lampung, Sumatra.

"But don't forget, the watermelon farmers of those areas,
including Lampung, are nomadic farmers from Banyuwangi," said
Ibrahim.

To ensure a regular supply to the market, the farmers move
from one area to another, trying to find the most suitable season
to grow watermelon. "They even bring a troupe of helpers from
Banyuwangi," said Ibrahim. Soon after the last pick is harvested
from a particular area, they move to another area to grow yet
another crop.

"It may be because of the soil or the weather, but we find the
most delicious watermelons which keep well, are brought directly
in from Banyuwangi," said Ibrahim. "That's why every seller
claims his melons are from Banyuwangi."

He said Kramat Jati alone sees hundreds of tons of watermelons
traded every day. These reach the remaining small-time retailers
at traditional markets and the upper markets of hotels and
supermarkets in Jakarta and its greater area.

Suppliers for upper markets, who mostly do not come from
Banyuwangi, come to the market with marketing ploys. They hand
pick the best products, and put on stickers of their own trading
company.

"So our products end up with consumers, even though they
sport labels from different companies," said Ibrahim. "But they
are eating watermelon from the same producers."

Although mostly coming from Banyuwangi, competition among
sellers remains high. Their middlemen, known as peluncur, work
hard competing with each other to attract farmers to sell the
products for them. With huge 5 ton to 10 ton capacity trucks,
these middlemen bring the fruit from the farm to major markets in
Java.

Ibrahim, whose four-meter-by-nine-meter stall sells up to 50
tons per day, normally finds it difficult to find a spot to sleep
in his stall. "There are watermelons everywhere," he said.

The biggest problem they face is not competition among
sellers, nor the flood of imported fruit, but the fluctuating
rupiah to the U.S. dollar.

Ibrahim said Indonesian farmers are still dependent on the
seeds imported from Taiwan. "We can not compensate the increasing
price of seeds to the products' price. Farmers just have to bear
the cost," Ibrahim said.