It is a pity that there still exists a majority of Iban parents in the rural areas, especially those staying in longhouses or in individual kampung houses, who are not making full use of their resources to the fullest.
By this I mean they are not maximising the economic potential of their environment that possibly offers fertile and suitable land to farm, to indulge in livestock rearing and other pursuits that could give good economic returns.
My observation is that many parents in my area could do much better than they are at the present. I know many of them are struggling to cope up with their children’s educational needs but either due to laziness or ignorance, they are trapped into their present labyrinth of predicaments, especially ones that pertain to finance.
Two couples with at least three schoolgoing children each are only depending on rubber tapping to provide for their children whereas I know they have ample land nearby the longhouse to start ventures such as livestock rearing and vegetable planting. The latter will certainly give very speedy return if well looked after, and so is livestock rearing too, especially rearing of fowls for meat and for eggs. For that matter, the Agriculture Department is willing to help in terms of expertise and even subsidy.
There have been attempts on my part to open their minds into indulging in these ventures and the aforesaid four couples were present and seemed to be positive of the suggestions but after three years nothing has been done by them. However a handful of the not-so-poor parents have responded thus far and are harvesting their corns, beans, brinjals, cabbages, cucumbers and other vegetables and laughing all the way to the banks. These are parents who think outside the box too. Many of them have children who are university and college graduates but instead of totally depending on their kids, they continue working and utilising their land and energy to the maximum despite being in their sixties.
I event told them to emulate what my late father (apai) Salok did when my brother Jon and I were still in primary school. This started in 1967 when apai took the iniative to sell the farm products such as corns, cucumber, cucumber leaves and other vegetables from our farm at Sungai Sibau Temudok Krian about four hours of paddling following the tide to Saratok town. During one school break I joined him using a small paddle. Since this a follow-up trip from two days before, by the time we reached Saratok wharf, a Chinese towkay Ah Chu of Chop Hock Guan was waiting to buy in bulk all the items we brought. I didn’t see how much cash he received but it was certainly to be substantial. For the record apai was arguably the Iban pioneer in selling farm products in Saratok. Many people were skeptical but apai was unperturbed and went on seriously with his agenda, resulting in better clothes, footwears and plenty of stationaries for me and Jon, not to mention some extra pocket money. Buying from him in bulk was one way of paying back to apai who, together with my mom, kindly provided shelter for Ah Chu and his wife during the Japanese Occupation – this was when the Japanese demanded the Chinese to provide them a lot of items. The couple, then childless, stayed in the ulu with my parents for a few months.
There are so many ways to supplement one’s income given that one is healthy and willing to toil a bit with suitable land to work on. At least six families in my longhouse have already started rearing fish in fish ponds, especially those with land near the trunk road or feeder roads. My family started ours more than twenty years ago and have many good harvests of red and black tilapia, chau hu, lampan Jawa, patin and catfish (ikan keli) as well as ‘udang galah’ (king prawns) and others. Our fish ponds, now looked after by Jon, are still flourishing. I remember paying someone with bulldozer RM450 to clear the land and make two ponds next to each other circa 1996.
For short as well as long term gains, some longhouse residents, in Saratok included, have turned to planting oranges, durian trees, rambutan, dabai, pakan (a variety of the durian family), guava, temedak (jack fruit), mangoes, mangosteen, mata kuching, papayas, banana and a few others in their own orchards or just around their individual farm houses. We have an orchard just about 200 metres from our longhouse where the 33 rambutan trees are still standing well, a few langsat trees, about five pakan trees, a good number of jack fruit trees, pineapples, pumpkins and some vegetables are growing. My niece and her husband as well as their kids take care of the trees and vegetables. Many years ago during an over abundant rambutan season our 33 rambutan trees were all bearing fruits. Another seven trees at another orchard about three kilometres away made the total number at 40 trees all reddish and yellowish with fully ripe rambutans to the delights of bats and other creatures – black haired ones included.
Bananas, pineapples and papayas are the more popular choices for our longhouse residents as these three items need shorter time to bear fruit and have ready buyers, even amongst our own longhouse mates.
Durian trees planting can be a good investment, especially with the new variety that can start bearing fruits after five years. Modern technology including cross-breeding can possibly make such planting a very enjoyable and profitable venture.
Some longhouse residents also take advantage of their rural setting by going fishing and hunting as well as making trips to the jungle and pick some precious jungle products, including orchids for sale. Areas such as the upper reaches of the main rivers still have exotic fish in abundance, fish that can fetch handsome prices. For example the ‘semah’, ‘tengadak, ‘empurau’, ‘tapah’, ikan padi and other fish fetch very high market prices, especially the brown ‘empurau’ that could fetch up to RM2,000 per kilo whereas the cheaper ‘semak’ still fetches between RM450 and RM700 per kilo. For areas reachable by tides, the ikan terubok, semilang, patin, baung and udang galah are fetching good prices too. Now udang galah could fetch up to RM60 per kilo depending on the sizes.
Oblivious to the ban on the sale of meats such as the barking deer (kijang), reindeer (rusa), wild hogs and others, many hunters from the longhouses, especially in Kapit and Belaga, are enjoying good sales of those, especially those in Market Teresang of Kapit – throughout the year. Occassionally, if one is lucky, one would come across people from rural areas vending bull frogs for sale. In Kuching I came across a man bringing frogs for sale in Satok circa 1995 – one kilo RM40, with just a couple of the big bull frogs, that the Chinese would readily buy as they say frogs are good for the skin.
Many parents in the upper Melupa River capitalise on their vast and thriving hill padi cultivation that has made a few of them laughing all the way to banks in Saratok and Sri Aman. Few have children who are university and college graduates. These few are actually thriving on hill padi cultivation that they do as commercial pursuit and not for subsistence as done in the past by their forefathers.
Some of these examples were used to tempt the aforesaid two couples to say goodbye to their miseries but after three years, I notice that their predicaments have remained status quo. I hope their kids could outdo their parents in the future and do justice to the idle pieces of land their parents inherited from their industrious grandparents.
“Make your aki and ini (grandpa and grandma) smile in their graves,” I would like to say to them recently but I still kept my mouth shut and shared my thoughts with no one till now.
