Sartam\'s garden in the forest on a slope in Pohuwato regency, Gorontalo, was like a two-hectare dining room for the yaki, Sulawesi\'s black monkeys. Tired of conflict with the Celebes crested macaque (macacanigra), locally called yaki, Sartam finally gave a portion of his garden to the monkeys.
It all began in 2003. Sartam, 69, cleared a two-hectare plot of land in Puncak Jaya village, Taluditi district, Pohuwato regency, Gorontalo. Parts of the area were intended for transmigrants. Sartam, a father of three, had migrated from Banyumas in Central Java. He moved in Puncak Jaya to find a better life after living in Poso, Central Sulawesi, for years.
Through persistence and hard work, Sartam could grow various crops in his garden. Other than cacao as the main crop, there is also banana, papaya, langsat, rambutan, stink bean and various vegetables. In the eyes of the yaki and pigs, Sartam\'s garden was like a two-hectare dining table, so they ended up targeting it. For Sartam and other farmers in Puncak Jaya, yaki are their most formidable enemies. Yaki, which move in packs of dozens, never show their fear when humans drive them away.
"I have tried many ways to drive away the yaki. It even crossed my mind to kill them," Sartam told Kompas\' Wallacea Expedition Team.
In the beginning, Sartam and other farmers tried to ensnare the yaki with wooden traps filled with fruits. At another time, guard dogs were tied to a cacao tree. Not even this scared the pack of yaki, who ended up taunting the dog.
Sartam was at the end of his wits. Finally, he recalled a memory from 16 years ago. He realized that the forest area that he converted into his garden had been the yaki\'s home. It was their feeding site and playground. The memory opened his mind.
”I said to myself, you [the yaki] can take a part of my garden. I am okay with it. However, please leave something for me," Sartam said.
In the end, Sartam let the yaki enjoy some of the fruits and vegetables he had cultivated. He said that it would not make him broke. Sartam grows the highest-quality cacao in Puncak Jaya. His cacao\'s price is higher at the collectors\' level compared to other farmers\'.
Sartam\'s dried cacao seeds are Rp 2,000 (14 US cents) to Rp 4,000 pricier per kilogram than those of other farmers. Currently, the price of cacao is Rp 28,000 per kilogram on average. Cacao prices fluctuate. They reached a low point of Rp 16,000 per kilogram in 2015 and a high point of Rp 39,000 per kilogram the next year.
Tekad Budiono, 54, another Puncak Jaya cacao farmer, said that yaki and pigs are the main pests for farms in the village. He and other farmers realize that the animals eat from their gardens as it has become increasingly difficult to find food in the forest. He said he did the same thing as Sartam, namely let forest animals eat some of his produce.
Afi Nursafingi, a staff member of the Gorontalo Natural Resources Planning Division of conservation agency Burung Indonesia, said that what Sartam did was wise for mitigating resource conflicts between humans and animals. Apart from serving as human life sources, forests are also home to many animals.
"The forest in and around Puncak Jaya is an important home for endemic animals in Sulawesi, like anoa, maleo, yaki and various birds," Afi said.
Sartam\'s way of resolving his conflict with the yaki gained positive response. In May 2019, he won an award from the Pohuwato regency administration in the environmental inspiration category for implementing a sustainable agriculture system. Sartam also won an award as an environmental defender from BirdLife International.
Endemic
Macacahecki are just one of seven species of Sulawesi monkeys known thus far. The other six species are macacanigrescens, macacanigra, macacaochreata, macacatonkeana, macacamaura and macacabrunnescens. Macacanigra is the most unique because of its black fur all over its body, its crest and its reddish bottom.
Furthermore, the macacanigra is critically endangered. Its existence is in a more critical state than the six other species. It could become extinct in the wild soon. The other six species are vulnerable, two levels better than critically endangered.
British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace recorded the presence of Sulawesi\'s black monkey in his book The Malay Archipelago. Wallace visited Sulawesi three times: Makassar from July to November 1856 and from July to November 1857, as well as Manado from June to September 1859. He wrote that the species had a close relative in the Philippines but no other relatives in the Indonesian archipelago.
The animal lives in large packs and resides in trees. It often goes down to steal food from plantations or fruit gardens, Wallace wrote in The Malay Archipelago. (MOHAMAD FINAL DAENG/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI)