The 25-year-old `Trubus' has sizable circulation

The 25-year-old `Trubus' has sizable circulation

By Samsudin Berlian

JAKARTA (JP): Once, it was recommended to close down but now,
entering its 25th anniversary, the Trubus hobby and agricultural
magazine enjoys a relatively sizable circulation and loyal
readers.

At first glance the monthly does not look very attractive,
even with virtually all the colors of the rainbow on its cover,
but for those in the know, however, it is simply the best of its
kind in the country.

It provides everything a hobbyist, gardener or even plantation
manager needs to know.

The subscribers are as colorful as its cover and as diverse as
its contents. Among them are the famous ex-badminton player Rudy
Hartono, the unrivaled eight time champion of the All England,
former Jakarta military commander Maj. Gen. Kentot Harseno, and
actress turned businesswoman Rima Melati.

The July issue, for example, contains reports on exclusive
vegetables, like sage, borage and rhubarb, plus a bonus
detachable 16-page supplement listing more than 30 other such
vegetables.

It also, as usual, provides a wide selection of new things,
new trends and timely advice. A recent issue included, for
example, the introduction of protea, an exotic colorful flower
from Hawaii, a catalog of aquarium fish, how to ripen bananas
correctly, and the existence of mock tomato sauce made of papaya,
tapioca, or squash which contains colorings harmful to health.

The monthly is now essentially run by energetic 43-year-old F.
Rahardi, the deputy chief editor from Ambarawa, Central Java, who
also happens to be a poet.

He wanted the magazine to function as a farmers' reference,
but when it did not work out and Trubus could not support itself,
he switched the focus to "city farmers". Now the readers are
middle to upper class urban dwellers who willingly pay Rp 5,000
(US$2.3) for the useful, applicable and durable magazine.

Independent

Trubus was first published in December 1969 by the then two-
year-old Yayasan Sosial Tani Membangun foundation. The foundation
was established by the Pancasila Farmers Association (IPP) which
was formed in 1958.

Later the IPP was fused into the only government sanctioned
farmers union HKTI, which was virtually inactive, and the
foundation became independent.

In 1984, the foundation formed Bina Swadaya to manage its wide
ranging activities. Now Bina Swadaya is widely known and one of
the largest non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country.
Its activities include agribusiness (six Trubus shops in Jakarta
selling agricultural products mainly to hobbyists), poverty
alleviation, publishing houses, a social forestry program, an
income generating program, alternative tourism -- agrotourism and
ecotourism -- and development research and consultation.

Although, among NGOs, Bina Swadaya is noted for its Usaha
Bersama self help program, among the urban public Trubus is the
most popular of all its endeavors.

The monthly, with a circulation of around 50,000, provides
information on agricultural technologies, control of pests and
plant diseases, agricultural business analysis, and introduces
new, potentially economical agricultural products.

The magazine had a hard time financially in the 1970s and
1980s and had difficulty recruiting writers and contributors.

Until then it was routinely injected with fresh funds from a
West Germany institution to keep it going, but in 1980 the funds
stopped coming.

Rahardi related that the late P.K. Oyong, a respected
journalist and one of the founders of the Kompas daily, advised
it to close down, saying, "This kind of magazine is not destined
to live for a long time."

Fortunately, the magazine's patrons refused to give up and
proved him wrong. They set up a book publishing house which sold
agricultural books by mail order. It became, and still is, very
successful and the profit was used to support Trubus.

In 1986 Trubus succeeded to stand on its own after targeting
upper-middle class urban hobbyists and, in a lesser degree,
businesses as readers.

`Real farmers'

Not all the subscribers were happy with the change of
direction, though. Noted journalist and novelist Mochtar Lubis,
who has followed the growth of the magazine since its beginning,
wanted the magazine to stick to its original objective of helping
small farmers.

Lubis says he understands the financial constraint Trubus
faced, but now that the magazine has overcome the difficulty it
should once more pay attention to the "real farmers".

He suggests that Trubus publish a sister magazine, a cheaper
one with simpler language, to serve farmers in remote areas.

As it now stands, Lubis believes the magazine is able to serve
the hobbyists but is dissatisfied with its tendency to prod its
readers' consumptive drive with articles on exotic plants or
fish.

Lubis says he does not get much from Trubus, which he only
reads to keep updated, since he also subscribes to more
sophisticated magazines from Europe and America.

Now occupying the fourth floor of the Bina Swadaya building at
Jl. Gunung Sahari III/7, Central Jakarta, the Trubus magazine has
90 employees including 13 full time writers who are mostly
agriculture graduates with journalistic training.