Innovation at the Frontier

Kemutug Kidul village in Banyumas regency, Central Java, is a shining example of a village that has overcome unemployment to become self-sufficient. People in this village earn their living by making various kinds of chairs from the bluish-black wulung bamboo. Averaging 1.5 meters in length, the chairs are designed for relaxing and reclining in while reading or watching TV. Chair making has now become the main source of income for 80 percent of the village's 1,300 families.

"This business was originally meant to meet orders from around Banyumas, but with increasing demand we began selling to other cities," said Slamet, 40, one of the locals now engaged in the home industry. Slamet sell to buyers in Bali, Surabaya, Bandung and other cities across Java.

This bamboo cash crop is now at the center of an industry comprising three groups, the first being the workers who build the chairs and are paid according to the number of chairs they complete. This group makes up the majority of the workforce.

"Workers are paid by their output rate. We pay them Rp. 4,000.- for every chair produced," Slamet told The Jakarta Post. Each workers makes on average four to five chairs per day. Employers like Slamet belong to the second group. In the village's home industrial circles, only a small number works as employers.

Handicraft workers make up 60 percent, sellers 30 percent and employers only 10 percent, a total of no more than 70 people," Slamet said. "Employers like myself have five to 10 employers at most. I don't think anybody has more than 10 workers," Slamet said.

No contracts bind the workers because they are paid only for the chairs they complete. Anybody can be an employer and there is no serious rivalry in the village. Slamet said this was due to the almost similar models and quality of goods and their markets. "An employer is someone who buys bamboo in fairly large quantities, about 200 stems at a time, and has tools like machetes and knives," he said.

Two hundred bamboo stems usually suffice for a two-week production run. Slamet buys wulung from the outskirts of Banyumas at Rp. 3,000.- per stem. On average, his workers can produce about 180 chairs from 200 bamboo stems.

The third group comprises the chair sellers. Some of them sell door-to-door around Banyumas, carrying the chairs on their shoulders or in push-carts, while others transport and sell them out of town. "They can sell at any price, as long as I get Rp. 20,000.- per unit," said Slamet.

In Banyumas' traditional markets, the average chair retails for about Rp. 50,000.-. "It's flexible. Sometimes we sell at only Rp. 20,000.- when business is slow and we need money – as long as we make a profit," said Tarmidi, 45, who said he had been selling chairs in Banyumas for 10 years. Tarmidi said he usually carried six chairs on his shoulders around Banyumas from six in the morning until dusk. "I'm very lucky, I sell all six. I sell four chairs on average per day," he said.

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