Tangerang farmers just workers on their ancestor land
Tangerang farmers just workers on their ancestor land
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
The sight of hundreds of hectares of paddy fields stretching as
far as the eyes can see on both sides of the road always makes
travelers forget the long ride to the northern part of Tangerang
regency.
When it's time for lunch, the farmers gather in small huts in
the middle of the fields and enjoy the view of the green fields
glowing in the sun.
Although they feel attached to the land where they witnessed
their fathers and grandfathers work, most of the farmers in
Sepatan district, the rice barn of Tangerang regency, cannot
claim that the fertile land is theirs.
"Well, it used to be ... My parents sold it in 1978 to a
couple living in Jakarta. The new owner hired me to work on the
farm. Now, we are just farm laborers, not land owners nor
farmers," Mamat, 49, accompanied by his wife Sutinah, 40, told
The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.
As rural laborers, the residents are paid only after harvest
time.
"If the crop is good, I can receive up to Rp 500,000 (some
US$49) from my employer for a rice field measuring 300 square
meters," he said.
The father of four currently works on three of the 300-square-
meter rice fields which can be harvested three times a year.
The laborers will have their second harvest season this year
prior to Ramadhan. They will resume the third planting season
after the Idul Fitri holidays early in November.
In the period between the beginning of Ramadhan and Idul
Fitri, Mamat and his friends sell fruit on the highway.
Sepatan district administration secretary Edi Purnama said
that 60 percent of a total of 1,000 local farmers were rural
laborers.
"The local residents sold their land to finance their haj
pilgrimage," he explained.
"Luckily, urban residents who bought the land from their
parents still allowed them to work on the land and they receive
shares in the crops," he said.
As most of the area is still cultivated as rice fields,
Sepatan district stands out from among the other 25 districts of
Tangerang regency in rice production.
The regency's agricultural agency head Nana Mulyana said that
the administration had zoned Sepatan as an agricultural area.
In cooperation with a private institution in the Netherlands,
EGA, the administration built a Rp 5 billion modern rice mill in
Sarakan village. The facility can process 50 tons of rice a day.
Nana said that Tangerang produces up to 280,000 tons of rice
per year from 70,000 hectares of paddy fields, mostly in Sepatan.