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Seeking Independence Through Cricket Farming

Name: Seeking Independence Through Cricket Farming
Uploaded: 2020-08-27T04:58:21Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: As a main source of migrant workers, Mernek village in Cilacap regency, Central Java, usually sees its young people depart to work elsewhere.

As a main source of migrant workers, Mernek village in Cilacap regency, Central Java, usually sees its young people depart to work elsewhere.

WILIBRORDUS MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO

· 7 minutes read

As a main source of migrant workers, Mernek village in Cilacap regency, Central Java, usually sees its young people depart to work elsewhere. But with community networks, the village economy have begun to grow again. Residents have developed their village through cricket farming.

"I used to work in Saudi Arabia as a driver for a family. After working there for six years, I went home to try the cracker business and cricket farming," said Moch Muhaimin, 56, a cricket farmer, at his home in Rawaeng hamlet, Mernek, Cilacap, on Aug. 13.

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Muhaimin said he started farming crickets in 2010. The demand for crickets usually comes from hobbyists who keep birds, such as magpies. At first, Muhaimin only had three cricket cages, each measuring 2.4 meters long, 1.2 m wide and 0.6 m high. As the demand increased, he built five more cages.

From a cage with about 5 ounces of cricket eggs, Muhaimin can harvest 48 to 50 kilograms of crickets approximately every month, with an average income of

Rp 1.2 million. "The crickets are sold for Rp 25,000 per kg to a middleman. If they are sold directly to magpie owners or a bird trader, the price can reach Rp 40,000 per kg,” he said.

Joko Prabowo, 28, has a different story. The resident of Grumbul Bulupitu, Mernek Village, went to Jakarta in 2012 and worked at a printing company until 2017. He then decided to return to his village.

"In the city, it was less comfortable in terms of the environment, especially the community. Maybe from an economic point of view it was better or easier there. However, living in a village is more comfortable,” he said.

In the last two years, Joko has raised catfish in the pond next to his home and has also been involved in cultivating crickets with two friends. "Seeing the situation in a quiet village, where many people have migrated out of town, there is a feeling of a little sadness," he said.

They began cultivating crickets at the end of 2019 and received three cricket cages from state owned company Pertamina as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. In the back of his house, Joko cultivates crickets in a room measuring about 10 m by 5 m.

Joko’s two colleagues have also worked in other regions. One returned from Kalimantan after working as a massage therapist and one worked in a factory in Tangerang. They began cultivating crickets at the end of 2019 and received three cricket cages from state owned company Pertamina as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. In the back of his house, Joko cultivates crickets in a room measuring about 10 m by 5 m.

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Joko and his friends now have nine cricket cages. Each cage can produce an average of 25 kg of crickets, which sell for about Rp 25,000 per kg.

From the sale of the crickets, each person gets between Rp 100,000 and Rp 150,000. "Per box, about 25 kg of crickets can be harvested. The harvest time can be set to once a week. This can cause income to add up,” said Joko while cleaning a cricket cage.

Joko and his colleagues’ farm is one of two cricket farms assisted by PT Pertamina. The other cricket farm is located in Grumbul Sibangkong and is managed by the head of the cricket farmers group, Asep Syaefur Rohman, along with four colleagues.

Asep manages 14 cricket cages. He had just three cages when began farming.

"Cricket farming can raise people’s income. Some were previously completely unemployed. Some were drivers and security guards,” said Asep, who works as a librarian at SMA N 1 state high school in Cilacap.

According to Asep, who is also the head of the Mernek Village Youth Organization, cricket farming allows young people to work in the village and learn how to cultivate crickets.

Through Muhaimin, an advisor in the group, the young people learn how to raise the crickets. "Young people learn how to do positive activities," he said.

Reducing urbanization

Based on data from the Cilacap regency administration, 11,345 local workers worked in other regions or overseas in 2019, a decline from 13,068 people in 2018. Of the total number, 5,002 people worked in other areas within the same province, 18 people in other provinces and the other 6,325 people worked overseas.

According to Mernek village head Bustanul Arifin, the villages seven cricket farms employ about 19 people in the village. "It is expected that it can become an embryo for the community\'s business and can prevent or reduce urbanization. We want Mernek youth to be able to produce something or establish economic activities in their own village,” said Bustanul. Young people in the village have reportedly begun to stay away from hanging out and getting drunk.

In the village there are 1,517 families, consisting of 6,780 people. Some 60 percent of the villagers work as farm laborers. “About 10 percent, or nearly 700 people, have become migrant workers overseas. Almost every neighborhood has a migrant worker. Most of them go to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia,” he said.

In addition to helping residents become economically independent, cricket farming can help promote the village’s environmental program the activity utilizes organic waste in the village, Bustanul said. "The surrounding trash, such as kelaras [dried banana leaves], can be used as a medium for the crickets to live in. Manure can be used as organic fertilizer,” he said.

Asep said each cricket cage could be filled with up to 30 kg of kelaras. His group has 23 cricket cages and needs at least 690 kg of kelaras. Crickets eat rice bran, papaya tree trunks and banana stems to obtain moisture. "Usually kelaras or papaya and banana stems are burned by the people. Now they can be used for cricket cultivation,” said Asep.

Obstacles

The constraints hampering cricket cultivation include pests such as ants, lizards, rats and frogs. Extra care is needed when crickets are less than 15 days old because they are weak and vulnerable. In addition, temperatures that are too cold or too hot affect the development of crickets. They prefer a temperature of 27 to 30 degrees Celsius. "If it is cold and it often rains, the harvest time, which generally takes 27-30 days, can be longer, up to 40 days," said Asep.

Under normal conditions, crickets should be harvested and sold at the age of 27 or 30 days because if they allow allowed to mature further, their wings will grow and decrease the selling price. “Birds don’t like crickets that have wings. The price is only Rp 10,000 per kg,” said Asep.

Pest attacks and unstable temperatures can make cricket harvests fall by more than 50 percent.

The pandemic has also hit the price of crickets because they can now only be sold in Cilacap. Previously, the crickets were sold in Bandung and Jakarta as well.

"From March to April, the price was only Rp 13,000 per kg because they could not be sold outside the city," said Joko.

Muhaimin, Joko and Asep hope cricket cultivation will survive and develop. The group also plans to process the crickets into flour to stabilize the price allow the crickets to be used in other ways, such as animal feed and as a raw material for cosmetics. "If you process [crickets] into flour, more workers are needed for cricket cultivation," said Muhaimin.

This program is aimed at decreasing the rate of youth urbanization.

Ardi Maulana Mubarok of the health, safety, security and environment department of PT Pertamina Fuel Terminal in Maos, said that Pertamina had a program called Mernek Jenek to support activities in agriculture, livestock and fisheries. "This pillar covers the Cricket Bos program. This program is aimed at decreasing the rate of youth urbanization,” said Ardi.

According to Ardi, the program seeks to allow the community, especially young people, to maximize the potential of the local area and develop new economic opportunities.

Pertamina and other companies provide free facilities and infrastructure including cricket cages, eggs, feed, training and a marketing network. "This group has been doing its activities intensively since 2018. Training programs and facilities were provided to support farming activities," he said.

Many residents of Mernek have placed their hope in the thousands of insects with reddish brown legs. For these crickets, a number of young men have returned to their villages and have begun to arrange a different future. Through the cultivation of the crickets, Mernek residents are trying to stand on their own feet.

Editor:

naranasrullah

Pertamina Cilacap Village Economy urbanization Cricket Farming Grumbul Sibangkong