Mount Merapi gushes hope for local farmers' prosperity

Mount Merapi gushes hope for local farmers' prosperity

By Haryoso

MAGELANG, Central Java (JP): For the thousands of farmers who
live on the slopes of Mount Merapi, the burning lava and deadly
rain of hot ash pouring out of the volcano are a sign of coming
prosperity rather than a threat.

They believe the most imminent danger is the worsening food
shortage. Prices have soared fourfold over the past year and the
locals have turned to cassava and corn because rice is
unaffordably expensive.

The farmers say the lava and ash will eventually make their
land more fertile, although the recent eruptions have damaged
this season's crops.

The 2,911 meter tall volcano, one of the world's most active,
erupted on July 11 and is continuing to show signs of activity.
The threat of a second eruption prompted thousands of residents
of the mountain's southwestern slope to evacuate the area for two
days last week.

When Minister of Social Affairs Yustika Syarifuddin visited
Krinjing village on July 14 and advised locals to move
permanently for their own safety, the villagers politely rejected
the idea. Some even laughed at her suggestion and told her the
real danger was the food shortage, not the coughing volcano.

"The minister should have offered us cheap foodstuffs," said
Sukadi, a farmer.

"We are not interested in moving. If the mountain poses an
imminent danger then we can temporarily evacuate the area," he
added.

Villagers said the eruption had made their lives twice as hard
because the hot ash destroyed their crops.

Krinjing village chief Agus Priyono said his people were in
such dire need of basic foodstuffs that they could play down the
threat posed by the rumbling volcano.

The 1,880 inhabitants of Krinjing are farmers. They grow
maize, carrots, sweet potato and tobacco. They also collect
firewood which they sell in towns at the foot of the mountain.

Farmer Bambang Suyogo, 38, said he and his neighbors were
surviving by consuming maize and sweet potatoes. Rice, tempeh and
soybean curd, their staple foods in normal times, have become
luxuries.

Bambang earns about Rp 1,500 a day from collecting firewood.

"The money is only enough to buy sweet potato or maize, not
rice, which now costs Rp 2,500 per kilogram," he said.

There are fear the food shortage will lead to cases of
malnutrition in the affected villages. Before leaving for a hard
day collecting firewood in the forest, villagers will only eat
roasted cassava or sweet potato and drink a glass of water.

At 11.00 a.m. they return home for a plate of maize with sauce
and some vegetable for their lunch. They usually have the same
menu for dinner. A meal of rice with salted fish, tofu and tempeh
is considered extraordinary. Now, even vegetables are getting
hard to find because of the raining ash.

"This year has been really tough," Suwaji, 42, a Krinjing
villager, said.

"My family now eats whatever is available. Over the past
months we have survived on maize or sweet potato because rice has
been too expensive."

Suwaji said he had no problem with eating maize or sweet
potatoes once or twice a day, but added that he tried to ensure
that his children ate three meals a day consisting of rice, tofu
and tempeh whenever possible.

Health crisis

Despite their untold hardships, Krinjing villagers have not
lost hope for a better future.

"One day," Suwaji said, "a time will come again when we can
have rice, tofu and tempeh every day, or even meat. So long as we
keep working hard, this difficult time will pass."

"The (volcanic material from) Mount Merapi has damaged our
crops. But later the material will make our soil much more
fertile and prosperity will return," he said, beaming with
optimism.

There is truth in Suwaji's conjecture. The volcano's wrath
will become a blessing for a great number of people living near
the mountain and along rivers which spring from it.

When it cools, volcanic debris settles in the rivers as sand,
gravel and rock and can be used as building material which many
people sell.

The eruptions have also posed health problems for people
living close to the mountain. Respiratory diseases and sore eyes
are the most common problems, although contaminated drinking
water, which people fetch from shallow wells, has also caused
difficulties.

Central Java Governor Soewardi said he had sent foodstuffs and
medicines to affected villages in the Magelang regency.

The provincial government has sent rice, sugar, noodles,
medicines, medical equipment and medical personnel.

"I hope the aid will reach the people it is intended for,"
said Soewardi.

However, Soewardi expressed his hope that the people would
move permanently to safer areas. "If they are interested in being
resettled, there are safer and better places to go. Then they
will not have to move every time Mount Merapi erupts."

Anthropologist M. Fadjar from Diponegoro University in
Semarang said it was difficult to persuade Merapi people to move
because of the strong mental bond which they had with their
ancestral land.

"They believe that they should die in the place where they
were born. They believe that life and death at the place of
origin is God's will," he said.

Moreover, he argued, they felt that if they moved to another
place, they would have no guarantee of an improvement in the
quality of their lives, especially with the economic situation as
it currently stands.