Since it was initiated in the last year, the business of fish farming and processing smoked fish has been growing. The product has been equipped with packaging and labels.
By
IRMA TAMBUNAN
·5 minutes read
IRMA TAMBUNAN
Women from the jungle harvest sago palms around their settlement in the Pelepat area, Bungo Regency, Jambi, Friday (3/6/2022). Rumbia is processed into woven mats or bedding.
The loss of their living space has progressively dimmed the spirit of the Orang Rimba indigenous community in Jambi. For the sake of the future, a middle way must be established. One of them is by starting a new way of life which they call cultivation.
Sweet potatoes, cassava and rice now fill the expanse of land for the Orang Rimba indigenous community in the Pelepat area, Bungo regency, Jambi. At the back of the settlement, ponds for catfish cultivation have also been created. The house of one of the residents is being used to smoke the fish.
"We sell smoked fish to Bungo City," said Amira, a member of the community, on Friday (3/6/2022).
Since it was initiated in the last year, the business of fish farming and processing smoked fish has been growing. The product has been equipped with packaging and labels.
They have even obtained a home-industry food permit (PIRT) from the local government with assistance from the Pundi Sumatra institution.
They hope to build an independent economy even though it is a long process.
The smoked-fish products have been marketed to a number of gift shops and local supermarkets and are sold online.
A jungle figure, Baya, said that, like society in general, Orang Rimba also want to live in prosperity. They hope to build an independent economy even though it is a long process.
The Orang Rimba have lost their natural forest in the last 30 years, which has made their lives miserable. They are in distress because the wealth in the forest has turned into palm oil and acacia plantations managed by corporations. Of the 150,000 hectares of the Bukit Duabelas ecosystem, only less than 60,000 hectares remain in the Bukit Duabelas National Park (TNBD). The rest has been turned into private plantations, trans-migrant settlements and roads.
The reduction of living space and management space has made Orang Rimba outside TNBD suffer the most. This forces them to find ways to adapt to survive.
IRMA TAMBUNAN
A forest woman cultivates smoked fish in their settlement in the Pelepat area, Bungo Regency, Jambi, Friday (3/6/2022).
A community member in the Pelepat area, Mak Nur, said that they received a 6.8-hectare land from the Bungo Regency Government and housing assistance from the Social Affairs Ministry in 2014. That is when they started thinking about cultivating cassava and sweet potatoes. They also grow paddy fields. The result is that daily food needs are met.
In recent times, a number of residents have been tempted to plant palm oil and rubber. If there is land being sold, they raise money. The proceeds are used to buy land to be planted with farm commodities. Currently, more than 30 hectares of rubber and palm oil are independently managed by residents in the Orang Rimba community in Pelepat, Jambi.
There are three forest rangers who intensively accompany the fish farming in the Bukit Duabelas area.
In the Kedundung Muda area, Sarolangun regency, Jambi, the Orang Rimba community began cultivating tilapia after receiving assistance in the form of baby fish from the forest rangers under the Jambi regional Police. There are three forest rangers who intensively accompany the fish farming in the Bukit Duabelas area.
“For the initial stage, we provide 10,000 baby tilapia to be managed by Orang Rimba. If it produces results, we will increase the assistance," said Insp. Gen. Albertus Rachmad Wibowo, Jambi regional Police chief.
He hopes that the economy for the Orang Rimba can continue to be supported so that they become increasingly empowered. They are no longer picking up loose palm kernels that are scattered on company land or community farmlands. In this way, social conflicts can be prevented.
Tradition heritage
Orang Rimba for generations have lived by hunting and gathering. They rely on and utilize natural materials that are abundant in the forest.
However, said Mak Nur, 60, the traditional lifestyle is increasingly difficult to rely on. Hunting is getting harder and requires traversing longer distances -- 40-50 kilometers in the forest.
Likewise, collecting forest products such as jernang sap, resin gum and rattan is an even more difficult struggle. Roaming to collect forest products can take a week. The results are less than in the past.
IRMA TAMBUNAN
Ngelimbun (32), a forest person in the Jelutih area, Batanghari Regency, Jambi, harvests forest jengkol, Saturday (22/5/2021).
Because of that, he added, several Orang Rimba began to live a new way of life, namely cultivation. It must be admitted that to implement it was not easy.
At first, they raised goats. Each family gets the assistance of a pair of goats from the National Zakat Agency. The goats were able to breed well.
However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Orang Rimba were terrified. They ran into the forest, leaving their goats behind. Bersesandingon, a tradition of the Orang Rimba of keeping distance to avoid disease transmission, resulted in the death of the goats.
Director of Pundi Sumatra Dewi Yunita Widiarti said that, other than that, the Orang Rimba's efforts to live independently are getting stronger. However, they need space to manage. In addition, assistance is also needed to enable them to be productive and independent.
One of them is the need to simplify the licensing process.
Dean of the Faculty of Forestry, the University of Jambi, Bambang Irawan, said that the needs of indigenous people for living space and management space could be formally accommodated by the establishment of customary forests through a simple mechanism. He sees that so far there are still loopholes that need to be addressed. One of them is the need to simplify the licensing process.
If it is known that there are indigenous people there, there is a forest, and there is a strong bond in the community regarding protecting the forest, the government should not hesitate to establish the status as customary forest. The protracted determination of customary forests, besides having a direct impact on the lives of indigenous people, can also have an impact on the loss of the remaining forests.
