A Tempting Business of God Remainder

Sweat was wringing wet on all over Komari's body after felling 20 coconut trees down on his house yard. The action of felling 70 years old tree down invited laughter from the Dondong villagers, Kesugihan Subdistrict, Cilacap Regency, Central Java. The multi-purpose coconut fell down one by one. On the former site of the coconut soil he plants 73 seeds of ganitri.
Four years after the action of felling the trees, in June 2002 the people who used to laugh at him are now agape with surprises. At that time, Komari harvested 30 kg of ganitri fruits from only 8 trees. He obtained an up to Rp8-millions turnover. 'Harvesting ganitri seeds is far more benefiting than coconut,' said the man who was born in Cilacap 31 Desember 1925. If a coconut tree yielded 10 coconut per month, he would only obtain Rp10.000 per tree. In that oil town the price of a Cocos nucifera is only Rp1.000.
The income is smaller than the ganitri selling outcome, 'The first harvest of a ganitri tree yielded Rp250.000-Rp1,3-million. The amount is not included the 2nd harvest,' said the retired village official. The high-low income is due to the varied seed sizes from each tree. Whereas, klitri seeds-the term in Madura-is valued based on the size. The smaller the seed size, the higher the price.Keep on increasing
In Komari's opinion, 'From one tree, small size seeds may not be found.' The ganitri seeds are categorized into 11 numbers, number 1-the diameter size is 5 mm-is the smallest and the most expensive. The next number is the rise of 0,5 mm. Class 1-9 is valued per grain, while number 10 and 11 is valued per kilogram.
Since its prestige rose, the price has never decreased, in fact it keeps rising. In 1960, the price of a seed class 1 is Rp0,5; now it is Rp152. Compared with the price of a seed class 10 sized 9,5 cm, it reached Rp11.000 per kg; the price of number 11 above 10 mm is Rp2.000 per kg. Each increment of diameter 0,5 mm, the price is getting down. The price of a seed number 9 sized 9 mm is Rp10.
It seems inexpensive, but if it is accumulated, it can reach millions of rupiah per tree,' said the father of 3 children. From 1 tree, there are less than 20% of seeds which are included in class 1-9. In the first harvest when the tree was 4 years old, the production reached 350.000 grains. The farmers harvest the fruits in September-February.
The varieties that Komari cultivated has been productive when they were 2 years; and the local varieties are at age 6-7 years. The stem of a super variety is shorter thus it makes harvesting easier. The super variety at 4 years old is 4 meter high while the local is 10-15 meters. The super variety yields more seeds of class 1-9. With the planting space 6 m x 6 m, the population of ganitri in each 1 acre soil reaches 120 trees. 'A half of them have borne fruits and will be ready to be harvested within the next 2 months,' said the 72 years old man.
In Dongdong village, Kesugihan Subdistrict, Komari is not the only ganitri farmer. At present in Cilacap, there are 70 farmers who cultivate the family member of Elaeocarpaceae tree. After Komari was successful in obtaining huge profits, they want to follow his footstep. On the average, they plant 2-10 god eyes trees alias ganitri on their yards.Uncultivated yet
What is the ganitri seeds for? The adherent of Hindu use ganitri seeds as a worship medium. The seeds are strung forming arrangement resembling string of 100 beads for the moslems or rosario for the Christian. That is the reason why the biggest market of ganitri seeds are India and Nepal. The biggest Hindu adherent are in those two countries in South Asia. In addition, it is believed that ganitri has medicinal merits for various disease.
In Indonesia ganitri is more known as guardian tree. 'Indonesia is not the only country that cultivate it,' said Soma Temple, a ganitri businessman in Bali. Therefore, Soma sometimes experiences difficulty in looking for raw material and has to import it from India and Nepal. Under Aum Rudraksha label, he routinely markets the minimum of 100 mala or tasbih ganitri to Australia, Japan, and Italy. The cheapest price is around Rp50.000-Rp80.000. If the buyer wants special design, the price will be more expensive.
Besides in Cilacap, the ganitri plantation centre is also in Gadungrejo village, Klirong, Kebumen, Central Java. According to a staff of the Plantation Sector of the Department of Agriculture Kebumen Regency (Bidang Perkebunan Dinas Pertanian Kabupaten Kebumen), Supono, the total plantation is 35 acres in which the production of each acre reaches 1,9 ton. Kasimun and Jasmin, each cultivate 18 and 8 trees of super variety on 1,875m² and 200 m².
The first harvest of Jasmin's 3 trees happened in April 2007. He reaped 6.000 seeds class 5, 5.000 seeds (4), 3.000 seeds (3), 2.000 seeds (2), and 750 seeds (1). The rest were in number 10-11. From that sales Jasmin obtained Rp2,1 million. He then intends to increase the population of the tree up to 20.
The profit is indeed quite big because the maintenance cost of a rudraksa tree was quite small. Komari only spent Rp7.500 per tree per year. The fund was for manuring and watering. It meant from Jasmin's 3 trees which was productive, the cost was Rp22.500. The price of a grafted seedling is Rp100.000. The result reached millions of rupiah in a year.Counterfeit
It does not mean that Kasimun's effort was always smooth. The first time he planted, 40 grafted seedlings which were brought from Cilacap were dead and only left 18 trees. The loss he had to suffer was around Rp2-millions. 'The seedlings were broken because they could not endure being blown by wind,' said Kasimun. Not wanting to experience the bitter story again, he always set up a stake for every newly planted seedling, using bamboo until the age of 1,5 year. The common pest is a brown caterpillar which eats and lives inside the young stem. The impact is the plant gets dry and died. After the obstacle can be overcome, ganitri business opportunity is still expanding.
The Elaeocarpus ganitrus seeds can be traded either soaked or dried. However, the majority of farmers trade it dried because the profit is bigger. In a soaked condition, the seeds of class 1 can be categorized in number 3 because the seed wrapper skin is quite thick. Moreover, peeling seed wrapper skin is easy to do. The farmers usually boil the ganitri seeds in boiling water for 2 hours. After the outer skin soften, the farmers clean and spread them out in the sun to dry for 18 hours.
A farmer like Komari deposites dry seeds to an exporter in Jakarta. 'They take no matter how big the volume,' he said. The exporter now needs 320 tons of ganitri in one shipment. The condition is the ganitri seeds must be bright. It takes a sieve to select ganitri seeds in 11 categories and count the seeds amount in each class.
No matter how high the price, he was always paid cash. Komari takes minimum Rp10 per grain. Every harvesting season, on the average he buys up to 1,5 ton ganitri with the total purchasing cost of Rp600-millions. As a gatherer, his net profit is more than Rp100-millions per month
According to Indian Times, every year millions of rudaksa seeds originated from Indonesia flow into India. The transaction volume is estimated up to Rp500-billions. The rareness and the high needs bring up bad trader who trade counterfeit ganitri seeds. How can God remainder business provide counterfeit mala?