Mandatory Tofu! Types Of Plants That Are The Focus Of The Dutch Colonial Era Plant System In Indonesia

Type of plant that is the focus of the forced planting system (perumperindo.go.id)

YOGYAKARTA - The type of plant that is the focus of the forced cultivation system includes coffee, sugar cane, tilapia, tea, and tobacco. These five commodities have been a source of suffering for the Indonesian people for decades during the Dutch colonial era.

The culturorstel system implemented by Governor General Van den Bosch in 1830 forced farmers to plant export plants. This exploitative policy turned rice fields into plantations for the sake of the invaders only.

Understanding this dark history is important so that the current generation respects independence and does not repeat past mistakes in any form.

The following VOI presents some interesting facts and some mandatory plants during the forced cultivation period in the archipelago.

According to a Wulan Sondarika study entitled 'Dampak Culturalsel (Tamna Paksa) For Indonesians from 1830-1870', culturstelsel requires each village to set aside 20% of its land to be planted with export commodities.

Residents who do not own the land must work 75 days a year in government gardens as taxes. The main motive for implementing this system is to fill the empty Dutch government treasury due to the Java War 1825-1830.

You need to know, Van den Bosch himself received a special permit to implement this exploitative policy to cover the state budget deficit.

Coffee is the main export plant that provides the largest profit for the Netherlands, with up to 80% profit. Unlike sugar cane, coffee is not grown on ordinary agricultural land but is combined with food crops.

However, farmers had to travel long distances to grow, care for, and harvest coffee. Between 1840-1849, the Dutch government obtained around 65 million guilders from coffee sales because the selling price was high but the purchase price from farmers was very low.

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Sugar cane planting is more dominant on the northern coasts of Java such as Cirebon, Pekalongan, Tegal, Semarang, Jepara, Surabaya, and Pasuruan. This plant requires good rice fields with irrigation.

Farmers are required to deposit the harvest to the mill, which is then sold to Nederlandsche Handel Maatschappij to be sent to the Netherlands. The sugar industry attracts a lot of workforce because the percentage of land often exceeds the maximum allowed limits.

Indigo uses a rotation system with rice. Farmers must dismantle the barrier network and irrigation canals before planting. Several villages must also work together.

Farmers not only plant and care, but also take yields 3-4 times a year, transport tilapia leaves to factories, and work out unpleasant processing to produce dye plates.

Between 1840-1849, Indigo only brought a profit of 15 million guilders, far below coffee.

The forced cultivation system brings severe suffering to the Indonesian people. Farmers are forced to divert productive land from food crops to export commodities, causing scarcity of food and hunger.

In addition, the provision of wages is not proportional to hard work due to the corruption of government employees. Farmers only get rewards for heavy work in producing and transporting crops.

If the proceeds from the sale are not sufficient to pay the land tax, the village still has to pay the shortfall from other sources. The workload of 75 days a year plus the maintenance of export plants makes farmers lose time taking care of their own land.

This has made the forced cultivation system gradually abolished until 1870 after receiving strong criticism from various parties. Humanist figures such as Eduard Douwes Dekker through Max Havelaar's novel revealed the cruelty of this system.

In addition, international pressure and liberal movement in the Netherlands finally forced the colonial government to end the exploitative policy.

Thus, the types of plants that are the focus of the forced cultivation system, including coffee, sugar cane, and Indigo, have been silent witnesses of the suffering of the Indonesian people for four decades. This exploitive system did fill the Dutch treasury but at the expense of the welfare of millions of Nusantara farmers.