Palm sugar makers stuck in bitter bind of debt

Palm sugar makers stuck in bitter bind of debt

By Agus Maryono

PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): For all his 60 years, Munarjo
can still agilely climb a 12-meter-high palm tree.

Two empty sap-collecting bamboo tubes, each about 50 cm long,
hang from his waist. Bare-chested, he jumps onto the tree stem
and midrib to affix the tubes to the tip of fruit ovules. Then
the old man clambers down, taking with him tubes containing
liquid.

The sap, from which palm or brown sugar is made, drips from
the tip of the budding fruits.

The resident of Pagerraji village, Cilongok subdistrict,
Banyumas district, like thousands of others, depends on the
precious fluid for his living.

Age has not slowed him as he scales 40 trees every day, split
between morning and afternoon work sessions.

It is arduous work, and the rewards are small.

"We used to earn just enough to keep body and soul together.
Lately, however, our earnings have not been enough to buy rice,
especially because the price of rice is not on par with palm
sugar," Munarjo told The Jakarta Post.

"When the price of rice was still Rp 800 per kilogram, we
could get enough to eat. Now it is Rp 3,200 per kilogram."

Demand for palm sugar increases during the Muslim fasting
month of Ramadhan. A favorite food for breaking the fast is
kolak, the sweet compote of starchy fruits or vegetables in
coconut milk and palm sugar.

This year, its market price jumped from Rp 2,600/kilogram to
Rp 3,300/kilogram.

"Even though the price of palm sugar in the market has
increased, we have to sell it to the pengepul (broker) for Rp
1,800 per kilogram," Munarjo complained.

Brokers purchase the commodity long before it is collected.

"One of the brokers told us the price was decided in Jakarta,"
said Nuridin, 41, another palm sugar maker from the village.

He cannot sell directly on the market because he is committed
by a loan to supply his broker. "He often offers me loans."

Loans act as the moral bind as well in continuing the
relationship with the brokers. He said almost all palm sugar
makers have taken loans, with amounts ranging from Rp 100,000 to
Rp 500,000, and sometimes even more.

"These debts will never be paid off because brokers never
asked us to pay them back. They even reject the payment of our
debts."

Nuridin admitted he owes Rp 300,000 to his broker.

Loans come with a catch. Brokers expect the makers to sell
their sugar to them at prices lower than going market prices. The
system, known as ijon, has kept people like Munarjo and Nuridin
in a cycle of debt and poverty for years.

Arif Wahidin, an activist of institute working with Banyumas
palm sugar makers since 1994, told the Post the ijon system
shackled the makers in poverty because they needed loans from
traders to meet daily needs. "This system is very disadvantageous
to palm sugar makers."

Nuridin acknowledged the trap.

"Nowadays, prices of daily necessities have gone up and palm
sugar makers can only take more loans from traders to cover their
living expenses."

It takes an average of seven hours to make palm sugar, in
exhausting process. It is women's work.

Although men collect the sap and lend a hand in the molding
process, their wives take care of the processing of the palm
sugar.

Nuridin's wife processes the sap into sugar after he collects
the liquid twice a day, at 6 a.m. and 4 p.m.

In the morning, he can fill up to half of the bamboo tube, but
in the afternoon he can hope for a quarter full at the most. He
usually puts two tubes on each tree.

Nuridin, who has 25 coconut trees, collects an average of 35
liters of sap a day, enough to make five kg of palm sugar.

Nuridin's wife cooks the sap for four to five hours until it
boils.

"It is then stirred for about an hour to let it thicken," she
said.

The thickened sap is put into a mold, which may be made from
bamboo or concave metal shape, to cool and harden into sugar.

According to data compiled by the industry ministry office in
Banyumas district, there are 28,773 palm sugar-making business
units in Banyumas, employing about 58,529 workers. An official of
the agency, Soepriyadi, said 24 of 27 subdistricts in Banyumas
district produce palm sugar.

He said 75 percent went to Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Cirebon,
Semarang and other cities, for export to Singapore, Malaysia, the
Middle East and Europe. The remaining 25 percent fulfills the
demand in Banyumas.

Joint research conducted by the industry ministry and the
Institute for Research and Development of Resources and the
Environment of Purwokerto in 1995 showed complicated and
protracted marketing of the product from the palm sugar maker to
the consumers.

The products moves through an extended chain from
brokers/small-scale traders to medium-scale traders, large-scale
traders, distributors and retailers, respectively.

"Maybe we will set up a palm sugar makers' cooperative to make
sure that the marketing process will be shortened," Soepriyadi
said.

Arif Wahidin, an activist of institute, meanwhile told the
Post that the worst thing for palm sugar makers is the fact that
they are shackled with the ijon system because they need loans
from the brokers to fulfill their daily needs. "This system is
very disadvantageous to palm sugar makers." said Wahidin, who has
been assisting palm sugar makers in Banyumas since 1994.