Category: Cibening

Rain still fall in Cibening village, the road is better because it was repaired by the community and used local government’s budget.

The road around the teak plantation is broken because rain water also erodes the soil, and the stones rolled down. The road becomes slippery and difficult to reach the plantation.

After helping the villagers to repair the road, workers are now fixing the road in the plantation. They started picking up the stones from uphill and crushed them then they put on the bold road. So now, the road can be used for two or four wheel drive. Zaini, the site manager, can drive his car to the plantation.

The workers also made a hedge to retain the soil from erosion. They use bamboo, other plants which can be used are Vetiver grass (fragrance roots) and Calliandra trees.

During January, it rained a lot in Cibening village, the road is broken and there were land slides in several areas. The local government and the community worked together to fix the road. With the fund from BNBP (National Board of Disaster Management) 68 Million Rupiah, the people fixed the road together hand in hand.

Rainy season has not ended yet, but the road is better now. People can use the road to ride their motorbikes and mini trucks to bring the crops to the market. There are some critical areas still need to be fixed too, but waiting the support from government.

The soil is clay with sand that is easily carried by rain water, there are no big trees beside the road which can protect it from land slides. On the right side of the road, the land is higher than the road and it is a paddy field and on the left side of the road, the land is lower and people plant the cassava on it.

Waiting the government’s support will take time, the road to the village is already broken in
some areas. Cibening people and some of Goldteak’s workers worked together to repair the
road. If they did not repair the road, the damage will be bigger and wider and they can not ride
or drive the vehicles.

Bamboo is easy to get and not necessary to buy, we can find easily near the teak plantation, it is
used to hold the land from erosion. Bamboo does not stand for long time, but at least people
can pass the road during the rainy season. People can ride and drive their vehicles to or from
the village.

The road is almost 4 Km long, it has been broken for several times, people often repaired it by
giving more sand, stones and sometimes it was cemented in critical area. But when the rainy
season comes, the road is broken again because of land slide or the soil is away by the water.
People always worked together with Goldteak guardians to repair it before the local
government come to help.

Since last month, rain falls almost everyday in Cibening village, morning,
afternoon, evening, all day or all night. Rain water is abundant, all wells are
full with water. New leaves make trees green again, now we can see
Goldteak plantation is green.

There will be a land slide when it rains continuously, water from up hill will
bring the soil away. The road to the village is not good, has no cover, only
rocks and stones. It is easily broken when the road can not hold the water.

People and some of the guardians will work together to repair the road with
bamboo to hold the side road not to slide, until government repair it through
National Agency for Disaster Management program.

Rain has been falling for several days in the end of October, but it made a good impact to the people in the Cibening village. The wells are full of water, although for drinking water they have to take it from the water spring. This situation makes people happy, because they can do bathing and washing easily and also the village looks green.

For the last two months, the local government gave the fund to fix the road but it could not fix all of the road. Some part of the road are still broken, covered with clay and it is slippery and difficult to ride and drive on.

At the end of the Hot Season, people in Cibening village start to open the land for agriculture by burning the grass or any wild plants. This traditional method is still being used although it has been forbidden, the high cost of manual method is one of their consideration.

Opening the land by burning the grass is dangerous, because people can not ontrol the fire and it will create a big fire. Fortunately, there is no fire in Cibening village this year because people are very careful when they open the land. Goldteak’s workers always give information to people how to open the land with a good way, friendly environment. Open the land by “Gotong Royong” method, all people hand in hand together opening the land without pay.

Rainy season is already seen, it rains several times this week. The soil looks wet and the air is fresh.

This time, Jon’s and Adi’s visit is related with the thinning plan. After
checking the trees in Bumisari, it will be considered whether do thinning or
let the trees grow naturally. So far, it is already decided that the thinning
will be done in Cibening.

Last month, the calculation of the trees and the diameter has been
completed, so we know the condition of the trees. The first thinning will be
done for one hectare and it will be a trial for the next thinning. Then, there
will be determined the location of the temporary saw mill, to cut and to dry
the wood. Although the result will be small quantity but still need a market
to sell the wood.

Walking among the Teak trees feel cool, the wind blow slowly and the dried
leave fall down and cover the land, it looks brown. Hot season has started
last month when it rained very seldom. The trees has less leaves but we can
see the flowers on the tree tops.

The workers already started to collect the seeds and young trees which
grow around the trees. They put the young trees in the nursery, and keep
the seeds in the jar.

After waiting for quite long time, this year Goldteak will do thinning for the
trees in Cibening. The guardians are measuring and calculating the trees,
they also give marks to select the trees to be cut.
It is a good time to do thinning after the rainy season ends, the land is not
wet and the road is dry, especially the bridge is already fixed so the truck
can bring the wood out from the plantation. We will know how many trees
are cut after calculating and measuring the trees is completed.
After thinning, the trees will grow better and faster because they will get
more sunlight and the soil will be more fertile. From thinning, the company
will get revenue as a part of capital return.

Two years ago, there was one tree falling because of thunder, it was eight years old already. After the the tree was cut into logs and planks, we dry it naturally under the sun for several weeks. From the surface, it looks the motif or patterns, not very tied but it is clear. To find out that the “Solomon Teak wood” has value, we need to make it as a product, so we decided to make a set of bar table and benches. The wood was taken to the wood smith who can make door/window frames, it takes about a week to make 3 pieces of furniture, one table and two benches.

The eight years old Solomon Teak now become a nice furniture with simple design so we can see the wood patterns, the product looks strong, simple but has aesthetic and value.