Logging causes monkey business in Gunungkidul

Bambang M and Gigin W. Utomo, Contributors, Yogyakarta

The fierce sun beat down on Supardi as he cut down a tree to make charcoal. As he worked, he talked about some of the difficulties faced by local farmers.

"Farmers have to keep an eye on crops like corn and tubers, otherwise the plants will be devoured by monkeys," said Supardi, who lives in Giripurwo, Gunungkidul regency, about 57 kilometers east of Yogyakarta.

Long-tailed monkeys, or Macaca fascicularis, have been the main enemy of farmers in four subdistricts of Gunungkidul -- Paliyan, Saptosari, Panggang and Purwosari -- since 1997.

And after five years, this problem still has not been solved. "Many farmers are hesitant about cultivating their fields because of this pest," said Suvibri Purwanto, the village chief of Giripurwo.

The monkeys also prey on crops in Yogyakarta's western regency of Kulonprogo, but Gunungkidul is the worst affected area.

"The monkey population in Kulonprogo is small," said Nuryadi, an official with the Yogyakarta Natural Resources Conservation Agency (KSDA).

The monkeys come in the hundreds when they raid the farmers' crops, devouring everything from corn and cassava to coconuts. The problem is worse in the dry season when the monkeys' natural food in the forest becomes scarce.

Farmers, usually accompanied by dogs, are forced to guard their fields from the time they plant their crops through to harvest time.

According to the chief of the Gunungkidul Forestry Office, Dwinggo Nirwanto, the animals are overrunning farmers' crops because of deforestation.

The monkeys are destroying crops in the Saptosari, Purwosari and Panggang subdistricts because monkeys living along the southern coast have lost most of their habitat to deforestation.

Apart from the land clearing, the monkeys are also disturbed by the presence of more and more people along the coastal areas catching lobsters. This presence forces the monkeys to move to the quieter forests to the north, close to the farmers' fields.

Akhmad Dawam of Gunungkidul's forestry office says people began to clear the forests in 1998. Now most of the forest along the southern coast has disappeared.

"We are unable stop the land clearing. One day, our officers patrolling the forest were threatened by 1,000 illegal loggers," Akhmad said.

Near the Paliyan subdistrict, the monkeys have been forced onto farmers' fields because much of their home, the Sodong Nature Reserve, has been turned into agricultural land.

"We have been cutting trees in the nature reserve since 2000 because many people were doing it ... no one was arrested," said one farmer, Sudiman, who was guarding his field from monkeys near the nature reserve.

Land clearing in nature reserves and national parks has gone largely unchecked since the era of political reform began in 1998, accompanied as it was by a weakening of law enforcement.

With so many trees in the nature reserve gone, the monkeys have been forced to live in the bushes along the edges of the nearby rocky hills.

After five years, the farmers have grown tired of trying to fend off the monkeys and are calling for the government to do something about the problem.

"Do the peasants have to guard their fields for three months straight?" asked Suvibri.

But local officials claim the responsibility lies with the Yogyakarta provincial government.

The Yogyakarta plantation and forestry office has initiated reforestation efforts, but, alas, the young trees were also devoured by the hungry monkeys.

To lower the monkeys population, KSDA has provided farmers with monkey traps. But Nuryadi acknowledged that this method has largely been ineffective because the monkeys seem to be too smart for the traps.

And critics say that trapping the monkeys violates a 1999 law on conservation. Plus, they point out that the monkeys are necessary to spread plants and vegetation.

"We have contacted some businesspeople in Jakarta who might be interested in exporting the monkeys," said Nuryadi. "But no one has responded to the offer."

Both the government and the farmers are undecided about what to do with the wild beasts.