For 13 years, Gabriel Belawa Maran, 53, worked as an illegal migrant worker in Sabah, Malaysia. The man, known as Ebit to his friends and family, then returned home and became a successful cashew nut farmer. His success has inspired other locals in East Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, to cultivate cashew nuts. Earnings from cashews has prevented more locals from becoming illegal migrant workers in foreign lands.
“I departed for Malaysia after I graduated from junior high school in 1982. In 1995, I came home and have not returned to Malaysia since. I work here and raise my children in my village,” said the resident of Ile Padung village, Lewolema district, East Flores, recently.
Like many other locals on Flores Island, working in Malaysia is an easy choice to earn an income. When Ebit decided to migrate, there were not many viable sources of income in his village. The yield from fisheries was not enough to sustain day-to-day life. Flores’ dry climate could not support agriculture. Furthermore, there was inadequate irrigation.
“I would work in Sabah for two years, come home for a week or two and then return to Sabah. There, I work at a sawmill in the middle of a forest,” said the father of four.
After marrying Susana Beliti Koten, 48, in 1995, Ebit decided to stay in his birthplace in I Riang Pedang hamlet, Ile Padung village. At the time, some of the land in Ile Padung village was already being used to cultivate cashew nuts. However, the yield was not much. “The price for one kilogram of cashew nuts used to be only Rp 1,000 (US 7 cents). Farmers accepted the price as they did not know the nuts’ true market value,” he said.
Apart from cultivating cashew nuts, some locals made moke, a local alcoholic beverage from the fermentation of the lontar (Borassusf labellifer) fruit. Like cashew nuts, the earnings from selling moke was not enough to sustain daily life in the village.
However, when Ebit returned home in 1995, he pledged not to return to Malaysia and just do whatever he could in his village. Together with other villagers, Ebit visited the regent’s office and the East Flores Legislative Council to protest the low price of cashew nuts.
“The gentlemen told us that it was not the traders’ fault that the price of cashew nuts was too low. It was the farmers’ fault for selling their harvests too cheaply. It was farmers’ fault for selling the cashew nuts individually instead of uniting and deciding on a fixed price together,” Ebit said, quoting what the officials at the regents’ office and local lawmakers told him.
The information gave a new sense of awareness to Ebit and his fellow villagers. Afterward, they refused to sell cashew nuts individually. They would collect the cashew nuts first before selling them to a local trader in Larantuka, East Flores, or other traders who came to the village.
After several years, the price climbed from Rp 1,000 per kilogram to Rp 10,000 per kilogram in 2001. However, Ebit was not satisfied. He believed that there was a better way to improve the prices. He tried to find a way for the villagers to earn higher incomes without having to leave their homes.
In 2003, he participated in cashew-processing training in Serpong, South Tangerang. The knowledge he gained from the training was complemented by other training provided by a European non-governmental organization (NGO). The NGO provided Ebit and other villagers with a dryer and money for certification. Through the certificate, the Ile Padung cashew nuts are labeled as organic nuts and have their own market segment.
Through the Puna Liput cooperative that he led, Ebit purchased local cashew nuts. At first, it was only from farmers in Ile Padung. As time went by, however, he expanded to include farmers in other villages around Ile Padung.
In Puna Liput, cashew nuts purchased from local farmers are processed. After being dried and peeled several times, the cashew nuts are wrapped in vacuumed packages. One kilogram of wet cashew nuts is sold at Rp 25,000. For the packaged products, however, the price is Rp 190,000 per kilogram.
Preventing illegal migration
As cashew nut prices have skyrocketed 2,500 percent in the 22 years since Ebit returned from Malaysia, many more Ile Padung villagers have started working as cashew nut farmers. They can enjoy much better incomes from collecting the cashew nuts on their own farms. Between August and November, the villagers rely on cashew nuts for an income.
Ebit said that these days, the number of locals migrating to Malaysia to find work can be counted on just one hand. This is in stark contrast to the condition just a decade ago, when almost all able-bodied men left Ile Padung village to find work in the neighboring country.
Now, the villagers of Ile Padung do not need to go far away to Malaysia to secure better lives. They need only to work for less than six hours a day to collect cashew nuts on their own farms.
To ensure sustainability, the system of planting cashew nut trees has been changed. In the past few years, Ebit and several of his friends have encouraged locals to adopt a new cultivation technique. The distance between the trees has been expanded from three meters to 12 meters. The bigger space for each tree leads to much better cashew nuts.
Ebit’s work in advancing locals’ lives goes beyond cashew nut cultivation. He also encourages locals to save money for the future of their families. As setting aside money to save in a bank is difficult for locals, Ebit encourages them to plant teak and mahogany as an investment instead. First, he set an example. “Locals need to see that something is successful first,” he said.
On a 7.5-hectare plot of land, Ebit planted 2,000 teak trees and 750 mahogany trees. The trees are now 10 years old on average. “I have my investment. My children can continue working on it,” Ebit said, adding that one of his children is currently studying wood processing at a vocational high school in Larantuka.
Cashew nut, teak and mahogany cultivation has made Ebit’s days busy. Apart from being a source of income and a personal investment, the plants are Ebit’s way of preventing locals from going to Malaysia to become illegal migrant workers.
