Viewing page 24 of 44

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

- 2 -

In the wet rice area approximately 40% of all farmers are tenants or farm laborers with rather homogeneous holdings of perhaps .5 Ha./ family. In the tambak fish pond area average holdings are much larger and highly skewed. It is reported that some Chinese families own holdings of 300 and 600 Ha in Sungai Buntu and the surrounding area. They have recently begun experimenting with modern prawn aqua culture techniques, based on significant capital investments to which they have ready access. Small holders may not be able to gain the technical inputs or capital to follow their model, however landless laborers who work for the large holders are usually paid on a daily wage rate which limits their ability to share in increased productivity resulting from technological innovation.

Ocean Fisheries:

A primary characteristic of ocean fishing in Sungai Buntu is the seasonal variation in the catch. In July 1982 the total months yields of fish was 11% of the catch during the month of December (see Table 1).

Table 1:

Monthly catch of Fishing Boats from Sungai Buntu in 1982 (in Metric Tons of raw fish).

[[2 columns]]
Month | Yield in Metric Tons
January | 64
February | 69
March | 77
April | 30
May | 18
June | 19
July | 15
August | 15
September | 26
October | 50
November | 104
December | 137

1982 Total Catch | 624
[[/2 columns]]

Sources: KUD statistics, Sungai Buntu, Kecamatan Pedes.

Large catches during the rainy season from November through March diminish to marginal yields to labor in the dry season (April to October). In many cases fishermen remain idle during the slack months because the catch cannot cover the costs of labor and materials. This in turn