Sujono taps into a profession all his own
Sujono taps into a profession all his own
YOGYAKARTA (JP): A dark complexioned man lugs dozens of bamboo
tubes tied with a plastic rope, a sharp sickle strapped to his
waist.
He looks into the distance, his gaze piercing through the
coconut leaves in search of something. The sun sinks in the west
and a drizzle falls, wetting his body. He stops under a 50-meter-
tall coconut tree and begins an agile climb, his hands and feet
clinging to its stem. In a moment, he is already on the bough of
the coconut stem and midrib leaves, cutting the manggar buds.
Sujono, 38, is a quiet man from Karagan, Kokap, Kulonprogo.
Almost every day he climbs a coconut tree to tap legen, the sap
from the palms.
A father of one, Suyono has no plot of land of his own and has
been climbing trees to gather the toddy for his neighbors since
he was 12 years old.
When many of his peers left to find work in towns, Sujono
remained in the village.
To keep himself occupied, he continued to climb trees to help
out his neighbors, such as widows. The requests increased and he
found the job increasingly taxing. In 1987, he made a public
announcement in the village that he would only tap the legen for
payment because he needed to support his family.
Many villagers initially considered that Sujono was asking too
much and was exploiting his skills for commercial gain. They
objected to his terms. Eventually, however, they came to realize
that Sujono's job was demanding and carried risks. The villagers,
particularly the widows unable to tap the sap themselves, gave in
to his demands.
Sujono spends close to 12 hours a day tapping legen. From
morning to late afternoon, he climbs up and down about 150
coconut trees and gets his share of between 15 liters and 20
liters of legen.
Suyono prefers to be paid in the sap rather than in cash. His
20 liters can make three kg of brown or palm sugar. If the market
price for the sugar is Rp 3,000 per kg, he earns Rp 9,000 a day.
"I cannot accept my fee in cash because both sides need each
other."
He said the key to successfully cutting the manggar depended
on using a clean instrument. Dirt may cover the pores of the
midrib leaves and therefore obstruct flow of sap. As many as
three bamboo tubes may be placed in each coconut tree. They are
tied to the stem and midrib leaves to collect the drops.
Usually, the tapping lasts from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., or about 14
hours, with the maximum quantity collected being about half a
liter per tree. If the tapping is held for 10 hours, the maximum
output will be about a quarter of a liter per tree. During the
dry season, however, only 0.1 liter of sap can be collected from
each tree.
To ensure that the flow of the sap will be smooth, the bud
must be cut every day and washed clean with water. Otherwise, the
liquid hardens and causes a bitter-tasting palm sugar.
"You can tap each bud of manggar for a month, or sometimes it
depends on the fertility of the coconut tree itself," he said.
Bamboo tubes already used to collect the extract must be
washed clean and then dried. Dirty tubes will contaminate any
extract collected later, and cause an offensive odor.
An elementary school dropout, Sujono said tapping for sap was
the only job he knew.
"I have climbed coconut trees since I was a child so I can
hardly abandon this job," he said. (Ahmad Solikhan)