Something about sugar

by George M. Rolph

That same year a new governor-general, van den Bosch, was appointed. He was entrusted with the task of making the island a producer of the commodities required by the mother country and was given a free hand as to the means to be employed in accomplishing his purpose. The plan he put into effect was known as the “Cultural System” and its principal features were as follows:

In the districts adapted to sugar cultivation, the natives were to contribute one-third of their arable land to be planted in cane as required. The natives were to till the fields, supply fuel and cattle for ploughing and transportation, and in consideration of this they were exempted from the free service due from them by law to the state. Payment for labor was to be made out of the proceeds of the crops after deducting the land tax.

The crushing of the cane and its manufacture into sugar was done under contract by private individuals who were assisted by government money in the building of factories. The contractors turned over the sugar to the government at a fixed rate, at the same time repaying the money advanced to them.

At the outset there was next to no profit for either the government or the producers, in fact the first few years showed an actual loss, so that it became a hard matter to induce anyone to undertake the manufacture of sugar on a contract basis. This led to a modification of the regulations and the manufacturers were permitted to sell a part of their output on their own account. In this way their interest was stimulated and there was a change for the better, attended by a profit both for the producer and the state. By 1870 the government, recognizing that the sugar industry was established on a sound footing, decided to withdraw from any participation in the manufacture and a new set of rules was formulated, under which the government’s direct connection with the industry was confined to the growing of the cane. The government then had to dispose of a portion of the land and the native labor at a just figure, and when once the cane crop was turned over to the contractor he had to take care of any further field work, together with the harvesting and transportation of the cane, out of his own funds without government help. Commencing with the year 1879, the government was to reduce its interest in the original contract plantations one-thirteenth annually, so that government participation in both cultivation and manufacture of sugar should terminate by 1891. It was stipulated that the manufacturers could make whatever disposition of their output they wished, and in lieu of rent for the land they planted to cane, they were to pay a fixed price for the cane, and in addition a premium based on the yield of the years 1864-69. On privately owned plantations the government exacted a tax of $10.00 for every 1.74 acres. This tax on privately grown cane was abolished in 1886 in order to stimulate the then languishing industry, and the premium on state plantations was cut down one-half between 1887 and 1891, with the proviso that the payment of the other half should be deferred until 1892-96.

Unfortunately for the producers in Java, there was a disastrous slump in sugar prices just about the time these new measures were formulated. The tremendous output of beet sugar sent the price below cost in 1882-84, and besides this a strange disease, called sereh, worked havoc with the cane in the fields and caused serious loss. This disease made its appearance in western Java in 1884 and spread rapidly, affecting the production everywhere. After carrying on a hard but losing fight for some years, the sugar men summoned science to their aid in this difficulty. H. C. Prinsen Geerligs was called to Java in 1891 and three experimental stations were established to fight the sereh. Through the efforts of the officials in charge of the experiment stations, specimens of cane were brought from all parts of the cane-producing world, the object being to find a cane that would be as rich in sugar as the Black Cheribon (the most popular variety then grown in Java) and yet able to withstand the sereh. Fresh healthy cane was planted for seed purposes in the mountains, far from the disease-infected region, and much care was taken in the way of disinfection and quarantine precaution to prevent the sereh from spreading into the sections that were free from it. These measures were accompanied by exhaustive scientific experiment work to find out the cause and the nature of the disease and how it could be overcome.

These stations not only accomplished the purpose for which they were built, but they were of great benefit to the industry in all of its branches. As a result, planting, growing and manufacturing methods have been vastly improved, chemical control of factories has been introduced and economic scientific methods govern every department of the work. By these means, supported by the addition of fresh capital, the sugar industry of Java was not only saved from extinction, but was lifted into a very prominent world’s place, and for years past Java has furnished an example of remarkable efficiency and low cost of production.

Java’s sugar plantations are situated in the eastern and central part of the island. The surface of much of the western end is broken and mountainous, lacking uninterrupted stretches of level land suitable for agriculture, and presenting obstacles to transportation. The great drawback, however, even in the vast plain of Krawang, is climatic. As has been said, the ideal climate for sugar cane is one that combines abundant rain during the period of growth with an uninterrupted dry season to ripen the cane and admit of its being readily harvested and transported to the mill. In west Java these conditions do not obtain, as the wet and dry seasons are not sharply defined.

The plains along the north central coast, east of the river Tjimanoek, between the sea and the foothills are, with the exception of a few open stretches, devoted to cane growing. There is also a considerable area in cane south of the central chain of mountains.

In east Java the sugar estates are found in the wide valley of the river Brantas, on the plateaus of the provinces of Madioen and Kediri, in the fertile plains along the north coast and in the lowlands bordering upon the Bali strait.

In 1912 Java had 184 sugar factories in operation, divided among the various residencies as follows: