working in the garden to make the wife and children smile
Peat land in Tameran Village has the local name "tanah rengas" and has a larger area compared to mineral land there, which is 953.8 hectares (67.59% of the village area) located in the northern part of the village bordering mineral land.
Most of this peat land is used for rubber plantations with a percentage of 13.35% of the village area, and a small part of the areca nut plantation is around 0.06% of the village area, bushes around 21.48%, and mixed gardens covering 26.56% of the village area.
Areca nut is one of the annual plants that has begun to be developed in Tameran Village. The productive age of areca nut since it was planted is five to six years before it can bear fruit.
In one (1) hectare of areca nut, 250 sacks per month can be produced if not intercropped with other plants. But if intercropped it will only produce 50 sacks per harvest each month.
On October 11, 2022, the Tameran Team visited the Upih Pinang Production House. We found that in the manufacturing process, the craftsmen did not use any chemicals at all. Plates made from areca nut fronds are also stronger when compared to paper plates, because areca nut fronds have a thick texture and are coated with wax.
In addition, plates made from areca nut fronds are also durable, if they have been dried in the sun until completely dry, the plates will not become moldy even if stored in a closed cupboard.
When finished using, the plates can be thrown away like throwing away banana leaves, because the plates will decompose in nature without damaging the environment. The market demand for plates and bowls made from areca nut fronds is currently quite large, marked by the demand from hotels in the Bengkalis and Pekanbaru areas, as well as marketing carried out to meet the need for plates at formal events such as weddings and others.
There are several obstacles that we encounter in the processing of areca nut fronds, where the production of plates and bowls at this time cannot meet market demand.
There are several factors that cause this to happen, namely the capacity of human resources, both in terms of quantity and knowledge that is not yet adequate, and production equipment is still not qualified.
In answering this, we try to modify the existing tools to improve the production process to be more effective and efficient in order to meet the market target for the areca nut derivative products.
