M. Kudeng Sallata ([email protected]) and I Made Widyana
Lac is a natural resin produced by the scale insect Laccifer lacca, which is a parasite of certain host trees. Used mainly to make lacquer and glossing material, lac is a commodity that has been traded in the international markets since the early 20th century. Lac is also used today in electronics, printing, textile, clothing, cosmetics, and food. The United States and Japan are major importers of lac resin, while India and Thailand are the leading exporters.
Because of the increasing market demand for resin, growing lac has become an enterprise in Indonesia. It was first tested in Alor District of East Nusa Tenggara Province in 1968. Since then, local governments have set up lac cultivation projects in areas where a high population of kesambi (Schleicera oleosa) host trees abound. Today, policy makers and businessmen in the province continue to promote lac resin production.
Production
The first officially recorded lac production in Alor District was in 1993, totaling 206 t. Since then, accumulated production up to 1999 was approximately 1 610 t of stick and scraped lac. Realizing its potential and responding to the demand from Japan, a company established a seedlac factory in 1994. By 1998, supplying the Japanese market could no longer be sustained because the factory could not meet the quality standards.
Production was then temporarily diverted to Sukabumi, West Java, and Malang, East Java. A lucrative US market demanding 500 t of seedlac emerged in 1998, but the districts could not meet the high demand for stick and scraped lac, eventually weakening the industry. Because of parasitic attacks and decreased production areas, production declined. Since 1995, however, better parasite and disease management and grafting techniques for kesambi trees have revived lac production.
Fig. 1. Scraping lac from twigs.
Growing lac insects
Lac insects are found only in certain regions (Alor, Sumba, Flores and Rote Islands) of East Nusa Tenggara at altitudes between 100 m and 500 m. Many of these places have no roads, or even bike trails.
Most lac growers are traditional farm families practicing shifting agriculture. The expertise is passed on from father to son. Each family usually has only a few big host trees scattered in the forest or in the garden. With the government ban on wood exploitation, highland farmers are turning to nonwood products, like lac, and livestock as sources of additional income.
Lac growing involves inoculation of lac insects into perennial host trees. The farmers take a few days to tie the broodlac (mother cell where the female lac insect is) onto the hosts. After three to four months, farmers return to harvest the broodlac. Harvesting usually takes a week.
During harvest, branches bearing lac are cut down and the broodlacs are tied to new hosts. The harvested host trees are left alone for one to two years for the regrowth of branches.
Lac yields depend on the weather. If the weather is bad, especially during the rainy season, there may not even be enough broodlac to inoculate the next crop.
Host trees
As mentioned earlier, Lac is produced on kesambi trees (Schleicera oleosa) that are mostly grown in natural, state forests. Some 54 792 ha, almost entirely located within the state forest in East Nusa Tenggara, were found to be feasible for lac production.
Future prospects
Despite declining production, lac growing in East Nusa Tenggara has good economic potential because of low labor costs. It also requires only low-level investment (since sticklac is obtained from the empty broodlac a month after inoculation and can cover two-thirds of the cost); provides quick and regular income; is easily transported; and trees as perennial hosts can be readily found or grown.
Fig. 2. Sticklac cut from branches of host trees.
Fig. 3. Seedlac ready to be sold.
Fig. 4. Sticklac collection in a shifting cultivation area.
Recommendations
Considering the prospects, lac production holds great promise in national economic and agroforestry programs for Indonesia's mountainous areas. The following are thus recommended:
Speed up land allocation to farmers. They should be assisted in putting up their own farms of compactly planted lac hosts that can be conveniently managed and protected.
Provide farmers with loans to buy broodlac.
Train farmers in growing host plants, rearing lac insects and harvesting sticklac and broodlac.
Support former workers of state lac plantations in establishing their own lac farms.
Develop bush-like and dwarf host trees for intensive lac growing.
Assist in organizing associations or groups of lac cultivators, traders, processors and consumers.
Encourage government agencies to promote improved lac cultivation methods in provinces where lac is produced.
(The author is a principal scientist at the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal-13 001, India.)
