LUBOK PUSAKA, Indonesia — Jaharuddin, 50, sits deep in thought in his living room in Lubok Pusaka village, in Indonesia’s Aceh province, smoking a cigarette and staring out the door. On his porch, piles of corn he harvested two before lie scattered, waiting to be sold. For decades, corn has been Jaharuddin’s main source of income. But lately he’s struggled to find a buyer. After his previous harvest, just a month ago, he failed to sell any corn locally. He finally managed to sell some in Langsa, a city about three and a half hours by car from his village, for just 1,200 rupiah (8 U.S. cents) per ear. “Sometimes, I was so desperate to sell it and told the buyers to give whatever price they want.” “That’s why I’m putting my hope on oil palm now,” he said. Like many farmers in the province’s North Aceh district, Jaharuddin sees oil palm as the most promising commodity. Compared to other crops, he said, it has the most stable price, is easy to grow, and is constantly in demand. “It’s the safest zone for us,” says Jaharuddin, who from 2013-2019 served as chief of his village. For decades, he made a living growing corn and cacao on his 8 hectares (20 acres) of land. But since 2018, when his cacao trees failed to bear fruit and his corn could hardly sell, he started to cultivate oil palms. Nearly half of them have started fruiting, earning enough to reliably cover his daily…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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