People cash in on crickets while pitching them to birds

By Antariksawan Jusuf

BONDOWOSO, East Java (JP): What is small, odorless and almost insignificant in human life, but can provide you Rp 1 million a day? A shy, soft-spoken man, Jamhari, will tell you the answer is crickets.

"In this time of economic crisis, the demand for crickets is even stronger because there are more people turning to singing birds to relieve their stress. More birds means a higher demand for crickets," Jamhari said.

In a rugged, shabby building behind his house in the village of Cindogo, situated on the main street connecting Bondowoso and Situbondo in East Java, Jambari showed-off some of the boxes used to house his crickets.

A 120 by 60 centimeter box holds some 4,000 crickets. Jamhari has 12 boxes which he shows visitors and people interested in the business.

Jamhari, the holder of bachelors degree from the State Institute of Islamic Studies, is a person who likes to share his success with others. Aside from employing and providing capital to four of his relatives, he has created a web of some 30 sub- breeders in Bondowoso and the neighboring regencies of Situbondo, Jember and Banyuwangi.

He sells these breeders cricket eggs, provides them the technical know-how to breed the crickets and buys the crickets at market price after they are between 55 and 60 days-old. All the breeders need to do is hatch the eggs, raise the crickets and call Jamhari to pick up the crickets when they are ready to be harvested.

Jamhari no longer breeds crickets for direct market consumption. He sells eggs to sub-breeders and supplies the crickets collected from the sub-breeders to markets in Jakarta, Solo (Surakarta) and Denpasar.

Presently, his cricket supply still does not meet demand. Markets in big cities can absorb up to 50,000 crickets a day. From his sub-breeders, Jamhari can provide an average of 25,000 crickets every two days.

"There are still opportunities to supply crickets to the markets. I can't even fully supply the local markets in East Java, which are Jember, Bondowoso, Probolinggo and Surabaya," he said.

"Say, one bird consumes three crickets a day. A bird owner keeping 20 birds will need 60 crickets per day," he said. Besides birds, crickets are also used to feed aquarium fish such as the Arowana.

A cricket sells for between Rp 50 and Rp 100. A mature female cricket lays between 100 to 150 eggs. Jamhari earns an average of Rp 1 million a day by supplying cricket markets with some one million cricket eggs a month. As a villager, much of his wealth is spent on buying land. After three years in the business, he has almost five hectares of rice fields worth more than Rp 250 million.

Considered by bird fanciers as an important food supplement for their birds, crickets are preferable to wild grasshoppers which are cheaper in price but are often tainted with pesticides. Bird owners believe singing birds which eat crickets every day will stop singing if they do not receive their daily crickets.

By maintaining production level at a maximum of 10,000 female crickets, Jamhari is able to control the market price in order to protect his sub-breeders. He recalls a discouraging situation in 1997 when cricket prices crashed, reaching rock bottom at Rp 10. "It hurt my sub-breeders," he said.

Jamhari said crickets had never been known to have been infected with any diseases. The only threat to crickets was when they suffered from swollen stomachs because their food, water spinach, contained too much water. "Then if they fell down, they would easily burst."

Before entering the cricket breeding business, Jamhari, now a father of two, was like any fresh graduate from a small village: no connections, no capital and nobody to rely on. Without any experience, he took a job at an animal husbandry firm. During his spare time, he became involved in the singing bird business, which led him to discover the opportunities afforded by the cricket business.

His first experience with crickets occurred when his son kept a couple of crickets in a cage. After several weeks, the crickets multiplied and Jamhari decided to breed them. The rest is history.