Tobacco still lifeline for many farmers

Tobacco still lifeline for many farmers

By Prapti Widinugraheni

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara (JP): Despite worldwide anti-
smoking campaigns, Indonesia's tobacco and cigarette industry
continues to flourish, sustaining up to 13.6 million people
including the 3.4 million workers it directly employs.

Suhirman Muljodihardjo, the Ministry of Agriculture's director
for production, said that in 1985 the country's tobacco industry
contributed Rp 860 billion (US$386.3 million) in duty payments
alone, which almost tripled to Rp 2.5 trillion in 1993.

Meanwhile, revenues from tobacco exports also grew from Rp
10.1 billion in 1985 to Rp 220 billion in 1993.

"These figures might increase by about Rp 300 billion a year,"
he said.

While health experts have linked tobacco, cigarettes and
smoking to coronary diseases and lung cancer, their important
role in providing farmers and workers with a livelihood cannot be
disregarded.

"Indonesia focuses its tobacco and cigarette industry on
providing employment to people and boosting their incomes.
However, the government will simultaneously strive to minimize
the industry's negative impact on health," Suhirman said, adding
that this was possible by using types of tobacco low in nicotine
and tar.

Based on this policy, the government has continued to develop
the tobacco industry, which was started by the Dutch colonial
rulers at the beginning of the century.

Ever since then, Indonesia has been growing various types of
tobacco. "Pure" tobacco is used for the production of kretek, or
clove-blended cigarettes, "Virginia" tobacco for white, non-clove
cigarettes, "Besuki-NO", "Vorstenlanden" and "Deli" tobacco for
cigars and "Lumajang" tobacco for pipe blends.

According to Suhirman, the pure tobacco supply for the
domestic kretek cigarette industry is now sufficient, though high
stockpiling has resulted in a need to limit the plantation of
pure tobacco.

Supplies of Besuki-NO, Vorstenlanden and Deli tobacco for the
export market, he said, are also saturated, resulting in
limitations of plantation areas for these types of tobacco as
well.

The white, non-clove cigarette industry meets 12.5 percent of
the country's total cigarette market. However, the industry is
still in need of Virginia, Burley and Oriental tobacco, which the
country imports to meet demand.

Surplus

Over the last decade, both imports and exports of tobacco have
increased. In 1993, Indonesia had a surplus of 32,882 tons of
tobacco worth $110.4 million.

According to the Directorate General of Plantations, areas of
tobacco plantations dropped from 186,106 hectares in 1985 to
162,716 hectares in 1989 due to the government's policy to limit
the areas of certain types of tobaccos and to ensure a balance
between market supply and demand.

Area limitations are also intended to guarantee good prices
for both tobacco producers and consumers.

In 1985, more than 60 percent of the tobacco plantations
produced pure tobacco, 27 percent Virginia and 13 percent Besuki
tobacco.

In 1990, however, tobacco plantations were expanded to 216,897
hectares but dropped again to 132,319 hectares in 1992 and
increased back to 170,382 hectares in 1994.

Tobacco production also fluctuated, dropping from 113,968 tons
in 1985 to 91,849 tons in 1989 before rising back to 134,920 tons
in 1990. In 1994, tobacco production dropped again to 108,078
tons.

Virginia tobacco made up 31 percent of the country's total
tobacco production in 1985, 18 percent in 1989, 24 percent in
1990 and 25 percent in 1994.

Lombok

Although Virginia tobacco is mainly grown in Bojonegoro and
Jombang (both in East Java), Garut (West Java), Klaten (Central
Java), Tanah Karo (North Sumatra), Bali and Lombok, Suhirman said
that the country's best quality Virginia tobacco, which is judged
by its coloring, nicotine and sugar content, is grown in Lombok.

Lombok is regarded as having the most suitable soil and
climate for growing Virginia tobacco. From this island, some
8,000 tons of oven-dried Virginia tobacco leaves are expected to
be yielded by the end of this year's harvesting season.

Planting tobacco, however, is not without problems.

According to Soerono, head of West Nusa Tenggara's plantation
office, the quality of Virginia tobacco in Lombok, like other
agricultural commodities, depends greatly on climate.

"Unexpected changes in the weather disturb the growth of
tobacco plants and influence productivity and quality," he said.

Significant price fluctuations also determine the enthusiasm
of farmers to plant tobacco in the following planting season.

"If prices are good in one year, all the farmers will plant
tobacco in the next planting season, and prices will fall in the
next harvesting year," he said.

Farmers usually sell tobacco leaves which are already oven-
dried to cigarette companies.

An executive of PT BAT Indonesia, which buys up to 30 percent
of Lombok's Virginia tobacco production, explained that tobacco
seeds need about five months before they are ready for harvest.

Planting Virginia tobacco is usually done from April to July,
the end of the rainy season.

Harvesting, which takes up to five months depending on the
areas, is done by picking two to three leaves at a time from each
tobacco plant.

Leaf-picking is done starting from the bottom. The first
bottom-layer leaves have the lowest quality. Several weeks later,
middle-layer leaves are picked and finally the top-layer leaves
are taken.

While blended cigarette producers consider the top-most leaves
as having the best quality, white cigarette manufacturers opt for
the middle layers of Virginia tobacco to produce high-quality
cigarettes.

Before farmers sell and grade the leaves, they bake them
intensively for five days, starting from 90 degrees Fahrenheit
and gradually increasing to 170 degrees. Drying is intended to
reduce the moisture content of the leaves from 60 percent to a
maximum of 15 percent.

After the tobacco is graded in Lombok, it is sent to cigarette
factories where it is blended with other ingredients and made
into cigarettes.