There's Sea Clove On Banana

by Endah Kurnia Wirawati (Indonesia)

I didn't expect to find Indonesia

Years ago I had the opportunity to visit one of the islands in the province of Lampung, Indonesia named Pisang island. Pisang island was placed on the Pesisir Barat regency of Lampung province. At the beginning, my initial plan to visit this island was to enjoy its island life and the white sand beach that has been known by some local. Most people came to the island to do camping or playing on its beach and ocean. After 30 minutes took a small wooden boat from Kuala Stabas harbor of Krui town, my friend and I finally arrive at Pisang island. But due to the bad weather and raining all day, I had to ask permission from a local old man to used his land property near the beach to build a tent to avoid heavy wind and rain. That old man named Mr. Tuzakki and he lived with his wife on this island. Seeing me and my friend already wet, Mr Tuzakki offer his house as a place to stay for a night. "I have a spare room you could use that belong to my daughter whose now at Java island for study. As a woman, you must need a private room to exchange your wet cloth, right," he said. So my friend and I agreed to stay at Mr Tuzakki house. Later on, I found out that he is a also a clove farmers, beside his main job as a fisherman, and he had half a hectare orchard with 400 clove tree, aged between 5 and 10 years. I'm quite mesmerize knowing that there's some clove plantation on this island. He said the clove plants on this island began to be cultivated since 15 years ago. But at that time, the numbers of clove tree was only a few, not as many as it is now. Seeds plants on the island is probably derived from Bengkulu city or Padang city. "Because the first people who lived here come from Padang city," said Mr Tuzakki while separating the stalks and clove in the backyard of his stall with a friend. This afternoon Mr. Tuzakki carries almost 2 kilos of cloves from a single tree. "Today I'm not be able to reap much cloves because the rain started from early morning. I only had time to harvest from a few trees, My clothes already wet and I feels so cold so I went home" He said with a smile on his old face. In the market of Krui, 1 kilogram of cloves worthed IDR 135K. "Those price were dropped, usually about IDR 150K, minimum, sometimes above it". Cloves are not only taken by its flower. Clove stem still could be sold for about IDR 10K per kilo. "It's cheap but it's fine". Everyday, like most people in this island, Mr. Tuzakki working as a fisherman. But during this rainy season, when he could not go to the ocean because of high winds and wave, he spends most of his time to pluck cloves from his orchard. Before the clove could be sell, it is first must be dried in the sun for 3 days. "But if the rain continues as it is now, it could take up to 10 days, even more" he said. Cloves at Pisang island is often called as sea clove in Krui market. "Cloves here had much better quality than the clove that came from the mainland over there because there is no pest here". Mr Tuzakki also has an orchard in one of the areas in Pesisir Barat regency mainland and the clove was not as expensive as the price of this sea clove. "On my orchard from the mainland, I have to do pest control for caterpillars or worms at least once a month. More maintenance but lower price. That's why my focus was on this island," In the small islands with white sand beach of Pisang island, I didn't expect to find a beautiful, and exotic spices of clove and its farmer. My initial plan to enjoy its beach has been switch to enjoying separating clove from its stalks on a backyard of an islander house. PS: Pisang in English, means banana. ;)