forest and rattan? Important isn’t?

Rattan is a commodity produced from natural forests and the results of community cultivation. There are two groups of rattan, first: solitary nature (stand alone but in clusters), second: cluster nature (grows in clusters on other protective trees). The nature of rattan that grows creeps up on protective trees which if cut/harvested regularly and regularly it will grow more new shoots so as to help maintain the sustainability of rattan plants (Background for the implementation of Minister of Trade Regulation No.36/2009).

The availability of natural rattan around and within the forest area indicates that forest stands still exist in the area. This is also reinforced by the statement of the Head of Dusun Sisere, Alirman, who is also a rattan seeker, “We depend on the forest, we can look for this rattan in the forest there, the forest runs out of rattan. There is no rattan, we people cannot grow cocoa,” said Alirman, the head of Dusun Sisere, at his residence. (Resident of Rattan Sisere, tJong-KpSHK, June 2010).

Rattan as its origin is a plant belonging to the palepaleman group whose life is vines. This group belongs to the sub-family Calamoideae which has 13 genera and about 600 species and lives in tropical rain forest areas in Southeast Asia. (Erwinsyah, Sustainable Forestry Management Specialist. Discussion. Government Policy and Its Effect on Rattan Business in Indonesia. September 1999).

In a research report (2007) made by a team from the Ministry of Forestry and the International Tropical Timber Organization, an organization under the auspices of the United Nations, it is stated that out of 600 types of rattan in the world, 350 of them are in Indonesia. As much as 80 percent of rattan circulating in the world also comes from Indonesia. The area of rattan forest in Indonesia is estimated at 13.3 million hectares, out of 143 million hectares of Indonesia’s total forest area.

Budi Hoesan (40), a third-generation rattan entrepreneur in Makassar, believes that, apart from spices, the produce that stimulates European interest in fighting over this archipelago is rattan.

Even now, it is estimated that rattan will still have a place in the hearts of the world’s citizens. Helmut Merkel, Managing Editor of MobelMakt in the article “On The Trail of Rattan” ensures that rattan will continue to sell well in the market because it is environmentally friendly. In contrast to wood, the process of taking rattan trunks does not sacrifice the mother tree so that the forest is not damaged and does not cause global warming.

Cutting down trees, for rattan farmers like Mans (46) in Pendolo, Poso, Central Sulawesi, actually makes rattan’s place of life disappear. “The living rattan surrounds the host tree. So, the taller the tree, the longer the rattan wrapped around it,” said Mans, who has been a rattan seeker for three generations.

Local wisdom familiarizes farmers not to clear the rattan when picking it. The base of this plant is always left. It is hoped that, in the next 3-5 years, the rattan will grow again and they can pick it again. (Watch Taufik. Expressions of Love for the Motherland Through Rattan. Export-Import-Indonesia, May 2010).

reference : http://kpshk.org/2010/07/23/rattan-hutan-dan-redd/