Pepper farmers laughing their way to the bank

TOBOALI, Bangka-Belitung (JP): Pepper farmers here and clove farmers in Tondano, North Sulawesi share something in common. They have both enjoyed a "golden age".

The clove farmers became rampantly consumptive after their very profitable harvest in the early 1980s. The pepper farmers here did the same after their windfall in 1998.

The pattern was the same: A good harvest and high prices enable farmers to earn a much higher income than usual that they become overwhelmed and spend indiscriminately.

It was reported that soon after the windfall harvest, the clove farmers held big celebrations, bought new cars, refurbished their homes, bought new household appliances or went on vacation.

"It was similar phenomenon in Toboali in 1998. Pepper farmers enjoyed a windfall from the sharp increase in pepper prices when the rupiah-U.S. dollar rate jumped to Rp 16,000 due to the political chaos in the country," Hartono, a driver of Sungailiat- based Bella Wisata Tour and Travel, said.

At its peak in 1998, the price of a kilogram of pepper was Rp 90,000, compared to only between Rp 4,000 and Rp 6,000 per kg a year earlier, he said. The price has now stabilized at about Rp 20,000 per kg.

The International Pepper Community (IPC) estimated that Indonesia's white and black pepper exports reached 37,800 tons in 1998 before dropping by 26 percent to approximately 30,000 tons in 1999 due to poor harvests.

Indonesia, which accounts for about 30 percent of the world's total pepper supply, was ranked the world's largest pepper exporter in 2000, followed by Vietnam and Malaysia, according to the IPC.

White pepper is mostly cultivated in Bangka and accounts for 90 percent of the country's output, while black pepper is produced in Lampung and South Sumatra.

"Most of the pepper farmers were apparently overwhelmed by the good fortune that they spend their money building houses, or buying cars, motorcycles and electronic products such as TV sets and refrigerators, as they were not accustomed to saving their money in banks," Hartono said.

Like neighbors'

Johnnie Sugiarto, president of Parai Beach Hotel, said that it was not unusual for farmers to build houses worth about Rp 2 billion (US$181,000).

"They engage an architect to design them a beautiful house," he said.

When visiting the pepper plantation in Toboali, about 135 kilometers from Sungailiat, one will find rows of modern, but somewhat tacky houses, much more ostentatious than the ones in Jakarta's middle-class housing complexes.

Hartono said: "The houses have an almost similar design because the owners tell architects that they want a house 'just like their neighbor's' with a little modification here and there."

"You see the glass tiles adorning the front walls of the houses were specially imported from Singapore," Hartono said, pointing to one of the houses.

So euphoric were the farmers with their newfound wealth that they spent lavishly and even on things they did not need, he said. Some of them bought new cars although they had very little use of them as they spend most of their time at the pepper plantations close to their homes.

"Therefore the cars are left idling, with most of the plastic wrapping intact. Although rarely using their cars, they will faithfully pay their vehicle registration fees annually," he said smilingly.

Despite their modern houses, the locals apparently are still in the habit as drying their wash, including undergarments, not in the designated places, but on their house gates, or bathe not in their bathrooms, but in the nearby rivers.

Suhardi, one of the pepper farmers, who claimed to have 3,500 pepper plants said the windfall enabled him to buy everything he needed.

While sitting barefooted in short pants and a singlet on his new Yamaha motorcycle, he said he tended to his plantation by himself.

Haji Lili, on the other hand, has employed nine people from Subang, West Java, to tend to his 17.5-hectare plantation which consist of 35,000 plants.

Suhardi, one of the nine workers who live in a small house in the middle of the plantation, said that they were each paid Rp 15,000 per day.

"The boss provides us our daily meals," he said. (hhr)