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.