Kampong Stenggang

Oil palm plantation

All photographs were taken by Kron Aken who holds the copyright.

The oil palm in this picture is about two years old. By three years old they would be bearing fruits. This is the sign of the times in many parts of Sarawak. Plantation agriculture is replacing traditional form of agriculture (upland rice). With schooling, most of the villagers can work in town and they are not willing to go back and farm their land. So fallow land are available for the oil palm plantation to use.

Oil palm fruit bunches left by the road side waiting for collection. The object on top of the fruit bunch is actually part of an oil palm frond. On it is written the worker's name and the number of fruit bunches he has left on the road side. The workers are paid by the weight of fruit bunches that they gathered.

Oil palm fruit bunches being loaded into truck. The workers in the pictures are from the local villagers. There are also Indonesian workers working in the plantation. The Indonesian workers have crossed the international border, and have brought with them malaria to the village. Malaria was a sickness that was under control in Sarawak many years ago.

This is the SALCRA office, the oil palm plantation developer. Workers come to the office in the afternoon to register that they have worked for the day.

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