Nias struggle to oil trading wheel

Nias struggle to oil trading wheel

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Gunung Sitoli

On a day when she was supposed to tap latex on her five-hectare
rubber plantation, Ameria Hura, 32, was instead sitting and
chatting with her relatives in Hiligodu village, 12 kilometers
from the town of Gunung Sitoli in north Nias.

It's been eight days since the earthquake halted the economic
activities there.

Tapping latex -- the main source of local revenue in Nias --
is her family's only way to earn a living. Some other farmers
earn a living from copra and cocoa.

"We're out of money. However, tapping latex nowadays is
useless because after the quake, no rubber traders come to the
local market to buy our latex," she said.

Her family usually earns about Rp 60,000 (US$6.66) a day from
selling 15 kilograms of latex.

Amosi Lase, who owns a rubber trading company Rejeki, said
that he was not buying latex from the farmers because he still
had 150 tons of latex sitting in his storehouse four kilometers
from Nias island's main seaport in Gunung Sitoli.

"The quake did not ruin my storehouse. However, the seaport is
now closed for trading. There is no shipping company to transport
my latex to Sibolga," he said.

Meanwhile, Yanto, the owner of shipping company PT Gunung
Silewi, said he had three ships and three trucks ready to
transport Nias' produce to start the economic wheel, but he could
not access the port, which is crowded with relief aid and panic-
stricken Nias residents who wanted to leave the island.

"If the authorities can arrange administrative procedures at
the sea port for trading, the trading could restart," he said.

Vincent Antonius Kurniawan, 26, who runs his family's rice
supply company in Gunung Sitoli, also urged the authorities to
designate space at the seaports in Sibolga and Nias for trading
to fill the rice supply gap in Nias.

"My customers from several districts in Nias have contacted me
to buy rice. I sold some of my stock to them from my warehouse.
But the supply is quickly dwindling and it will finish in two
days, meanwhile my customers are waiting for more," he said.

Vincent said that besides rice from aid, some customers who
still had money preferred to buy rice rather than depending on
the uncertain aid.

The young entrepreneur said his family's store in the main
business area was wrecked in the quake. His parents are still
recovering from some injuries in Medan.

"My family told me to rest in our house in Medan. But I
remembered my workers here. They would be out of work if we leave
Nias. Meanwhile, my customers here also need supplies," he said.

Vincent said that some of Nias' economic players, most of whom
are Chinese-Indonesians, left Nias to recover from the trauma of
the quake.

"I'm sure they will be back soon though," he said.

Meanwhile, he is struggling to restart Nias' economic wheel
because once the wheel is running, the people of Nias can quickly
stand on their own feet to rebuild the island.

"We cannot depend on relief aid forever," Vincent said.

Local markets in Gunung Sitoli opened three days after the
quake, selling the existing supplies of salted fish, rice,
instant noodles and kitchenware.

However, restarting business at the time when distribution of
aid is not well channeled, security at the seaports and
storehouses becomes an important issue.

"I have spoken to the local trade and industry authority here
to ask them to help arrange security and transportation," he
said. "Just give us a permit to assign one ship, only one ship,
for trading," he said.

"But I haven't got the answer yet," he added.

Meanwhile, the Gunung Sitoli port administrator, Sudirman,
said that trade and industry officials from Jakarta and Medan had
come to him to talk about the possibility of opening the port for
trading.

"We have talked to the government's transportation company PT
ASDP here to start receiving goods," he said.

PT ASDP, which has three trading ships in Nias, is now using
the ships solely for passengers and relief aid.

PT ASDP official Junjungan Siahaan in Gunung Sitoli said the
trade and industry officials had talked to him about it.

"If the traders want to load latex onto the ships, they are
welcome. But they have to use the aid trucks from Sibolga, which
were used to transport aid here," Siahaan said.

"They cannot use their own trucks because I'm following orders
to concentrate on transporting relief aid."