Jump to full article: Jakarta Globe (id), 2009-05-28
Author: Hera Diani
Intro: Bojonegoro, East Java. The clock struck an hour past noon; the field was sweltering hot, without the hint of a breeze. But the tobacco farmers from Samberan village, a three-hour drive from the East Java capital of Surabaya, still went out to work the second shift that day. . . .
Government officials and tobacco companies argue that millions of people are dependent on the industry for their livelihood, but research shows that the farmers’ incomes are far below the national average and many of them, stuck in a cycle of poverty, seem eager to switch crops.
Tobacco use has increased almost sixfold from 35 billion cigarettes consumed in 1971 to 202 billion in 2004. However, land for tobacco cultivation only increased from 170,000 hectares in 1971 to 200,000 hectares in 2004.
Less than half of the 466 farmers in this village of 2,000 people own their land; the rest are peasants, earning Rp 30,000 ($2.85) or less a day. Many farmers are still living in homes with dirt floors.
Even those who own land say they wind up with meager profits. Farmers need to have at least Rp 18 million to plant a hectare of tobacco, Iskak said, with the money sometimes obtained by taking out a loan. . . .
The farmers’ dependency on cigarette factories remains high. Many women work as cigarette rollers, earning Rp 20,000 a day.
“If the cigarette factories are closed, for example, the economy of this village will subside and the unemployment rate will soar as tens of thousands of people in this district work at the factory,” said Azis Zainul Abidin, a teacher in Samberan who helped with the Demographic Institute’s research. “But farming [other crops] can be empowering; it can replace the cigarette factory in the economy.”
Abdillah urged the government to issue policies that can improve farmers’ welfare, for example, by providing alternative jobs. These, he said, can be combined with an increase in the tobacco excise tax and the additional state revenue can be allocated to help farmers switch to other crops.
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