Farm workers find life harder

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 04/28/2008 11:40 AM  |  Headlines

Ten farm workers spent the day planting 0.7 hectares of farmland in Drunten Kidul village in Indramayu, West Java, on Sunday, a job for which they were paid Rp 35,000 each.

"We are paid Rp 35,000 a day, which is enough to meet my family's needs. But there are other days when we have no jobs. Hundreds of people work as farm laborers here because of the increasing population. Many people, especially women, go to the city to seek better jobs because of the lack of job opportunities in the regency," Sadli told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Sadli and his family of four live with his parents because he doesn't have land for his own home, and even if he did, he couldn't afford to build a house.

He said life got harder from year to another year because of the soaring prices of basic commodities and school fees for his two children.

"My wife is a farm worker too and I work as an ojek driver some nights to support my family. I want my children to graduate from high school so they can work in the city," he said.

The farm workers said their life would be harder if rice prices were raised to Rp 4,300 a kilogram because they have to buy rice.

In Kragilan, Banten, some farm workers take construction jobs, which pay about Rp 25,000 a day, when there is no work in their village.

"The rice price hike will certainly affect our daily life because we buy rice for daily consumption. Yet, we will survive as we have done in the past, but life remains poor," said Dharma, a farmer worker in Muncang village.

Safiuddin, a haji and uztad (ulema) in the village, sold 1.2 hectares of farmland to a foreign investor in 2001 to allow him to go on the pilgrimage, send his children to school and open a used car business in Tangerang.

"We buy rice for daily consumption but we have a new business to improve our monthly income. We find the current business far better than being a farmer."

He also criticized the government for what he said was its failure to pass pro-farmers agriculture policies.

"If the government has a strong commitment to accelerating the agriculture sector, it should reform land ownership regulations, stop the conversion of productive land into housing areas, provide fertilizer subsidies and stabilize rice prices." (Team)

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.