Poor Kalimantan farmers face hard life
Poor Kalimantan farmers face hard life
Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Samarinda
Hartono, 41, puffs on a rolled cigarette while he plows the land.
His wife, Aida, is working nearby, wearing a woven wide-rimmed
hat to protect herself from the unforgiving sun.
At noon, they sit in the shade of a cluster of banana trees
to rest. Aida dishes up a plate of boiled cassava and they eat it
with unsweetened tea for lunch. After eating, her husband goes
back to work, usually until late afternoon.
"Having cassava and plain tea for lunch is OK, we have
survived on little else but that, cassava leaves and boiled rice
for months," he said recently.
Hartono and his wife are farm laborers on the outskirts of
Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan province. He says the
land owner only pays him Rp 156,000 (approximately US$18) every
month. If the harvest is good, the land owner usually gives the
four-member family a sack of rice.
"A sack of rice and that paltry wage is not enough to live on.
We have to make do with cassava leaves from our neighbors. We
even search for wild vegetables, such as edible ferns, which we
cook," he said.
Due to the circumstances, their two sons, who are 14 and 20
years old, are unable to continue with their studies. "My eldest
son washes cars for money," said Hartono.
Many families in East Kalimantan are in similar situations.
Based on data from the East Kalimantan Central Statistics Bureau
(BPS), the number of poor people working in the agricultural
sector reached 173,381 or 52.95 percent of the total number of
328,597 impoverished people in 2004. The population of the
province is 2.7 million people.
Last year, 88,491 poor people were working in other sectors
besides farming, and the number of jobless reached about 66,113
people.
The BPS classifies individuals who earn less than Rp 165,755 a
month as poor.
Deputy head of the province's economic and welfare department
Nursyirwan Ismail, said his office had made efforts to alleviate
the situation, such as by providing welfare benefits with the
money saved from slashing the fuel subsidy.
As many as 330,147 poor families will receive Rp 12,000 each
from the total funds of Rp 47.51 billion allocated this year poor
families. The provincial administration will also provide 18,736
tons of cheap rice each month to be disbursed among 133,844 poor
families. "We hope that the provision of funds and cheap rice
will be received by those who need it the most," said Nusyirwan.
However, Hartono and his family were not even aware of their
entitlement to the money or the cheap rice.
Cassava leaves and ferns may have become their dietary
staples, but Hartono says his family will get by, with or without
government assistance.
Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Samarinda
Hartono, 41, puffs on a rolled cigarette while he plows the land.
His wife, Aida, is working nearby, wearing a woven wide-rimmed
hat to protect herself from the unforgiving sun.
At noon, they sit in the shade of a cluster of banana trees
to rest. Aida dishes up a plate of boiled cassava and they eat it
with unsweetened tea for lunch. After eating, her husband goes
back to work, usually until late afternoon.
"Having cassava and plain tea for lunch is OK, we have
survived on little else but that, cassava leaves and boiled rice
for months," he said recently.
Hartono and his wife are farm laborers on the outskirts of
Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan province. He says the
land owner only pays him Rp 156,000 (approximately US$18) every
month. If the harvest is good, the land owner usually gives the
four-member family a sack of rice.
"A sack of rice and that paltry wage is not enough to live on.
We have to make do with cassava leaves from our neighbors. We
even search for wild vegetables, such as edible ferns, which we
cook," he said.
Due to the circumstances, their two sons, who are 14 and 20
years old, are unable to continue with their studies. "My eldest
son washes cars for money," said Hartono.
Many families in East Kalimantan are in similar situations.
Based on data from the East Kalimantan Central Statistics Bureau
(BPS), the number of poor people working in the agricultural
sector reached 173,381 or 52.95 percent of the total number of
328,597 impoverished people in 2004. The population of the
province is 2.7 million people.
Last year, 88,491 poor people were working in other sectors
besides farming, and the number of jobless reached about 66,113
people.
The BPS classifies individuals who earn less than Rp 165,755 a
month as poor.
Deputy head of the province's economic and welfare department
Nursyirwan Ismail, said his office had made efforts to alleviate
the situation, such as by providing welfare benefits with the
money saved from slashing the fuel subsidy.
As many as 330,147 poor families will receive Rp 12,000 each
from the total funds of Rp 47.51 billion allocated this year poor
families. The provincial administration will also provide 18,736
tons of cheap rice each month to be disbursed among 133,844 poor
families. "We hope that the provision of funds and cheap rice
will be received by those who need it the most," said Nusyirwan.
However, Hartono and his family were not even aware of their
entitlement to the money or the cheap rice.
Cassava leaves and ferns may have become their dietary
staples, but Hartono says his family will get by, with or without
government assistance.