The itinerant birds of harvest

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

Suri, a sturdy woman in her late 30s, said with a tone of pride in her voice, "We are just like the birds, going to where the yellow rice fields are, ready to be harvested."

The warm woman -- who answered every question with a smile and repeatedly flavored them with saucy jokes -- is busy clearing a plot of land in the middle of many acres of rice fields in the Singapadu area, some 15 kilometers east of here, with her group of four families.

"We've just arrived, after completing another harvesting job at a village north of here," she said.

On that cleared land they later set up four simple plastic tents to serve as their "home" for the next 15 days, the period estimated to be necessary for harvesting all the rice in that area. The dirt floor of the tents was covered with thick layers of dried grass collected from the harvested fields. The grass provided a comfortable mattress for the tents' occupants.

"It's simple and generally we are satisfied with this basic boarding facility, except on several unanticipated occasions. Just like we experienced two nights ago, when a long and heavy downpour virtually flooded our tents and made it impossible for us to sleep," another worker, Slamet, said.

These families -- comprising five male and four female adults and two three-year-old baby girls -- are migrant workers from the village of Songgon in East Java's Banyuwangi area.

They have become invaluable assets to Bali's agriculture. Each year, the number of Balinese people who are willing to work in that sector is constantly decreasing. The glitz and glamor of tourism -- currently the number one industry in the island -- are far too tempting for local youths who are eager to make a "quick buck".

"Clean shirts, ties, quick money and an image of modernity have turned the laborious work of farmers into an anachronism for most Balinese youth today. Dirt, mud and the scorching sun are definitely not the ideal "office" for them," social observer Nyoman Gde Sugiharta said.

Dirt, mud and the scorching sun are exactly the things Suri and her fellow migrant workers have familiarized themselves with.

"We are not afraid of hard work or manual labor. There have not been that many job opportunities back in my village in Java, so we moved to Bali. We travel from village to village, looking for paddy field owners who need our services," Slamet, who has been in the job for more than 10 years, said.

The Balinese acknowledged the perseverance, commitment and diligence these migrant workers have displayed.

"They are very hard, quick and diligent workers. When the sun was too strong, they'd take a rest inside those plastic tents during the day, then work all night long. I admire them because they represent something this nation cannot live without, an ability to sustain hardship without losing hope," Sugiharta said, full of praise.

The workers spent only one month to two months at their home village in Java each year, usually during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan. Meanwhile, during the remaining 10 months, they would be busy, traveling all over Bali in their search for paddy fields ready to harvest. No wonder these workers have extensive knowledge of the current geographic, demographic and cultural situation in Bali.

"The locals should pay special attention to the fertility of the island's paddy fields, which I think is quickly deteriorating. One hectare of paddy field used to be able to yield up to seven tons of rice, but it has dropped at present to only five tons," Suri said.

Each worker-family could earn as much as Rp 800,000 (US$77.70) per month, which, according to them, was sufficient.

"We are paid based on the amount of rice we harvest. The rate is Rp 125,000 per ton. So, if we want to maximize our income, which we undoubtedly do, we have to work as efficiently and cleanly as possible, to avoid losing too many rice grains during the harvesting process," Suri explained.

There are currently thousands of migrant workers like Slamet and Suri in Bali, providing the island with a labor force in many sectors that are too important for the Balinese to leave unattended, but too "uninteresting" for them to handle by themselves.