The poor condition of roads in Jambi Tulo village, Maro Sebo district, Muaro Jambi regency, has resulted in soaring costs to transport crops to a nearby processing plant, which in some cases have doubled. Farmers are being hard hit by the condition. The picture was taken on Sunday (8/7).
Under normal conditions, it takes less than 10 minutes to traverse the 3-kilometer road. However, over the last six months, it took Ipung, 38, hours to pass the road. If he doesn’t drive carefully, the tires of his truck could become trapped in hundreds of deep and muddy potholes.
Along with three colleagues, Ipung planned to pick up the oil palm fruit from Edi\'s plantation on Saturday.He had hoped the trip would be smooth, because no rain had fallen in the last four days. Two days earlier, he and other drivers had also filled some of the worst holes with asphalt debris.
The condition of the road to Edi\'s plantation is heavily damaged and dangerous. Although Ipung has modified and replaced his tires with larger ones, he is exhausted from making the trip along the muddy village road of Jambi Tulo in Maro Sebo, Muaro Jambi district, which is only about 20 kilometers from Jambi city.
When they finally reached Edi\'s plantation, they hurriedly loaded the palm fruit onto the truck. Normally, a truck can carry 2 tons of freshly harvested palm fruit. But due to the road’s bad condition, the truck can carry one-third the usual load.
Ipung’s truck got stuck in the deep potholes several times en route to pick up the oil palm fruit.The truck got stuck again, but this time, the pothole was deeper. The truck engine roared loudly, but the tire would not dislodge. Edi and two other farmers descended and pushed the truck so that it could come out of the hole. The smell from the clutch box stung.
Not far from the scene, two motorcycles carrying oil palm fruit had also become stuck in the potholes. The chain on one of the motorcycles broke because of the strain from forcing its way through the muddy road.
Dedy, the owner of the damaged motorcycle, asked for help to get his motorcycle out of the muddy road, so his motorcycle was loaded onto the truck.
They finally managed to pass the village road in two hours. According to Ipung, this trip was quite fast because it had not rained in four days, and the potholes halfway down the road had been filled with asphalt debris. “Usually, if we leave early in the morning, we will get home in the evening,” he said.
Costly
According to Ipung, the condition of the village road deteriorated after several floods hit the region in February.
Farmers also face difficulties in harvesting the palm fruit. Sasmita, a local farmer, has not been able to make a harvest for two months because a deep puddle blocks the road to his fields.
Farmers must hire a truck to transport their palm fruit to the factory. Bujang, another farmer, complained about the high delivery cost, which had doubled from Rp 200 per kilogram to Rp 400 per kg. “The farmers\' income is decreasing,” he said.
The rise in transportation costs further hurt the farmers, as the price of oil palm fruit has fallen.
Two weeks ago, the price of palm fruit was Rp 1,600 per kg. Now, it is only Rp 1,400 per kg. After subtracting the delivery cost to the factory, farmers earn a mere Rp 1,000 per kg.
The farmers suffer more when there has been high rainfall. The road becomes impassable. The collectors are reluctant to come pick up the farmers\' harvests. The harvested palm fruits are often abandoned.
The palm fruit collectors, or truck owners, also have to pay more because of the bad condition of the road. Ipung has spent more than Rp 5 million to modify his truck to be able to get through the muddy road.
This does not include the cost of replacing the suspension, which breaks at least twice a month. The gears wear out quickly and must be replaced every week at a cost of Rp 900,000. The windshield of the truck also broke when it was hit by a bunch of palm fruit that was thrown as the truck fell into a pothole. The glass is only taped up because Ipung doesn’t have the money to replace it.
Motorcycle taxi drivers who collect the palm fruit have had the same experience. The transportation cost for a motorcycle is Rp 20,000 per kg of palm fruit. Each motorcycle can carry 100 kg in a single trip. However, with the bad road condition, deliveries are not maximal.“At most, we can make only three trips a day. If conditions were normal, we can make up to 10 trips,”Dedy added.
Cut off
The earnings of other villagers have also declined. In Sungai Bahar subdistrict, Muaro Jambi, for example, the roads tooil palm plantations and factories are totally cut off because of the deep holes and puddles of mud. To be able to transport their crops, farmers must take a detour of 35 kilometers. The trip to the nearest factory can reach more than 100 km, from the usual 70 km trip.
“Again, the farmers have to bear the costs,” said Desnad, a local farmer.
Data at the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of Jambi province shows that the farmers’ welfare had decreased compared to the previous month. This is reflected in the farmers’ exchange rate value (NTP) of June 2017, which dropped 0.63 percent from the previous month to 98.75.
Jambi BPS head Dadang Hardiwan said that there had been an increase of 0.19 percent in the costs of producing agricultural products.
The farmer’s NTP has been below an index of 100 for more than 5 years. An exchange rate value under 100 indicates low welfare, due to the production costs being higher than their earnings.
