The itinerant birds of harvest

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.