THE STORY BEHIND THE TURMERIC (CURCUMA LONGA)

Eni said:
When I was a child, I used to see my elder sister (Ida) scraped turmeric planted in our house backyard. The scraped turmeric was for my mother to drink every time she had gastric problem. Even though my mother is not a medical expert, she knew it from the knowledge inherited by her ancestors. I, at that time, did not know that turmeric can heal gastric problem. But the more I read, the more I know that it is indeed a scientifically proved medicine for gastric problem and other health problems. It can even confine the growth rate of certain cancer.


Ida said:
When I was 6 years old, as the eldest child in the family, I had to take over some responsibilities when my mother was sick. It included hard effort to recover my mother from her gastric problems and anemia. Every morning I used to scrape turmeric. Then the scraped turmeric was mixed with warm water and salt, then filtered. My mother used to drink it before going teaching. I, consequently, used to go to school with my palms yellow coloured because of the turmeric I used to squash everyday. I also used the scrapep turmeric and put it to animals (such as bird, cats, chicken, etc) that got hurt. They all recovered, and I felt I believe that turmeric was indeed a medicine.

Ibu Budiyem (a farmer in desa nglipar, wonosari, yogyakarta) said:
I have been planting these turmerics since 3 years ago. I remember, at that time my son, Beni, was going into his 9th grade a.k.a third class of Juniour High School. The price of the turmerics now is Rp. 400 (US$ 0.04). All my harvest today will gain me Rp. 4000 (US$ 0.40) at the utmost. Yeah it's about 10 kg turmeric. It is indeed uncomparable with the series of hard work of planting, looking after, and harvesting it.

As you can see, we have sit here for hours cleaning the harvested turmerics from the soil. No other choice, we do anything we can to make money. Beni needs a lot of money to go on tour to Bali (Rp. 800.000,-) with his school friends, for his motorbike fuels, his cell phone credits, etc. This turmeric is used for making Jamu (traditional concoction to keep you healthy). We don't make it because it is expensive for us to make. It needs other ingredients to make it such as tamarind, other herbals, and sugar. The price of sugar now is about Rp. 9000,- make it so expensive for us to make jamu.

Tuti (Second grade in Juniour High School, child of Ibu Budiyem, Who helps her mother harvesting turmeric) said:
I don't know the price of this turmeric. Ah, maybe it's just nothing (then she yelled asking the price to her mom). This turmeric is used to make Jamu- a traditional concoction- to make our body healthy. But I seldom drink it because not many people sell it.


The Authors:
They will keep planting the turmeric because it can grow easily in Indonesia and also because it is one of kitchen seasoning used across the archipelago. Maybe one day, their turmeric will be appreciated with deserving price. Hopefully, when that happen, the turmeric has not been patented by any parties. Or maybe it has?






By: Ida dan Eni, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, May 10th, 2009