MANUFACTURE OF COCONUT SUGAR AS A COTTAGE INDUSTRY by Atih Suryati Herman* Summary Indonesia has the largest coconut planta4ion in the world. At present coconut is the 2 n most important commodity after rice. Coconut production has been increasing due to the increase of the area of its plantation. The increase of coconut production is in contradiction with the decrease of the demand for coconut due to the increase in supply of palm oil. The situation is even worse for coconut farmers because of the decrease of the price of coconut products in the world market. They suffer from losses every year. Coconut farmers and estates seek for alternatives to diversify their product to eliminate their loss. Coconut sugar, which has a good local and export market, is chosen by most of them. Some researchers and observers reported that the income of a coconut farmer is roughly 5 times higher if they tap the influorescense for sugar production compared to fruiting it. Few big estates have already started to process coconut sap for sugar using a system of business sharing with the processors. This successful effort brings to a significant increase of coconut sugar production. The sugar is mostly marketed locally, while its export has just started but still in small quantity. The paper explains in detail the processing of coconut sugar as a cottage industry in Indonesia, including the need for raw material, equipment, labour and process, as well as uses and quality of the finished product. It explains also the future development of coconut sugar industry in Indonesia, especially the pattern of business share which is most likely to be used by coconut estates owners and coconut sugar processors. INTRODUCTION Coconut has a very important role in life an economic welfare of Indonesian people. It is the 2ng most important commodity after rice. Statistical data show that Indonesia has the largest area of coconut plantation in the world (3,317 hectares). In terms of production it is still the second biggest after the Philippines (SOEBIAPRADJA in TARIGANS and AIAHAIUD, 1991). The biggest part, that is 97% of coconut plantation in Indonesia, belongs to small farmers who still apply a very traditional technology so that the production per hectare is low. Number of small farmers involved is about 3 million. In the mean time, big estates that own 3% of coconut plantation absorb 954,402 laborers. ------------------------------------ * Head, Food Science Division, Institute for R & D of Agro-Based Industry, Department of Industry, Bogor, Indonesia. The area of coconut plantation within the last 20 years has been growing as much as 4.86% per year. The private big estates have the biggest growth rate (38.18% per year), followed by government-owned estates (13.16% per year), and small farmer (4.61% per year). The growth increased the production of coconut in Indonesia. Ninety percent of coconut production is consumed by household, oil industries and food industries. In the last few years, the demand for coconut in the country has been decreasing due to the increase in supply of palm oil. This situation is even worse because of the decrease of the price of coconut products in the world market. Coconut farmers and estates suffer from losses every year. The above conditions made every entrepreneurs involved in coconut production seek for other alternative to diversify their product. One of the most popular product, believed to have good prospect is coconut sugar. Sugar derived from palm trees is well known all over Indonesia for centuries. The product is not refined but brown sugar which is prepared in a traditional manner. Twenty-six out of the 27 provinces in Indonesia produce brown sugar which amounted to 789,475.94 tonnes in 1985, as shown in Figure 1. The palm trees used are Cocos nucifera, Arenga pinnat, Borassus flabeliver, and Nipa fructicans. Since coconut (Cocos nucifera) has already been commercially cultivated while the other three have not, coconut sugar has dominated palm sugar production, at 54% f total brown sugar production (Dit. Gen. of Small-Scale Industries). Government of Indonesia gives a very big attention to small-cottage-industries for their development. It is expected that these cottage industries play an important role in improving welfares of rural communities by providing more employment opportunities. Big industries should assist them in any aspects including assistance in finance, technology, equipment and marketing. Firms owned by government must use 5% of their profit to assist small industries. Above policy of the government encouragres coconut farmers to develop coconut sugar processing. Efforts of big firms in assisting coconut sugar processor to market their product, leads to a bigger market of coconut sugar locally as well as for export. USES OF COCONUT SUGAR Coconut sugar used to only be produced in various shape and size of mould. Started in 1984, the Institute for Research and Development of Agro-Based Industry (IRDABI) conducted research and development to diversify the product in order to increase the value of final product. It was found that granule form can improve the practical use of the sugar and extent of market. Simple technology of crystalization was introduced to the centres of brown sugar home industries since 1986, and at present, the product is already commercially produced. It is estimated that the supply of coconut sugar in Indonesia at present is less than its demand. Coconut sugar is marketed locally for household, street food processors, restaurants, and local food industries for preparation of various types of traditional food. The per capita consumption of brown sugar in Indonesia is around 5 kgs or almost 30% of total sugar consumption. Food industries which use coconut sugar as part of their main raw material are those of soy-sauce and "dodol", very popular Indonesian traditional food which are also export commodities. In the latest years, new food industries also absorb coconut sugar in a significant quantity. These are industries of confectioneries, bread, biscuits, cookies, cakes and extrusion snack food. Coconut sugar is also used in colouring and flavouring ice creams. Rapid development of food industries brought about to the significant increase in coconut sugar demand in local markets. In 1985, the industrial sector absorbed 36.2% of brown sugar production. Soy-sauce was the biggest user, at 63.6% of brown sugar used by industries. It was also reported that some countries, including the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Europe, have an average demand of 1,000 tonnes per month (Department of Industry in SUDARISYANTO, 1991). This figure seems to increase due to preference of customers in developed countries for healthy foods. Coconut sugar which contains proper amount of minerals is very attractive to them. PROCESSING OF COCONUT SUGAR Coconut sugar is made mainly by home industries in coconut-producing villages. RAW MATERIAL Tapping and Correcting of Coconut Sap Coconut sugar is prepared from fresh coconut sap. The sap is obtained by tapping the influorescence (spadix) of the coconut palm tree. Tall variety coconut tree starts to bear fruit after reaching 8 years while the hybrid does after 4 years. They keep bearing up to 50 and 40 years for tall and hybrid variety respectively, then they need to be renovated. The spadix, when mature but before it opens up, is selected for tapping. The number of spadices on any tree at. anytime will be 2 or 3. Tapping can be started if the tree has already 3 spadices, when the length of the youngest spadix is 20 cm. minimum. Tapping should be done from two oldest spadices. The third one can be tapped when another new spadix has come out and have a length of 20 cm. When suitable for tapping, the spadix will be about 60 cm long. By this technique, the coconut tree can produce sap continuously for almost one year. Before tapping is started, the spadix has to be opened by removing the spathe carefully using a sharp knife. The opened spadix is then wrapped with coconut leaves, and then is gradually bent downward carefully. The tip is tied down with string to a nearby leaf branch. Three to five days later, the tip is untied and cut open by thin slicing (+ 2 mm thick) using a very sharp knife. The slicing is done every morning and afternoon within 3 days. Receiving the coconut sap is started on the 4th day. A 3 litre receptacle made of a thick section of a bamboo is tied to the spadix stem. End of the spadix is put into the receptacle so that the sap comes into it. Sap is collected twice a day, before 8 a.m and after 4 p.m. The tapper has to climb the tree carrying an empty receptacle to replace the filled one, which is brought down. The capacity of a tapper per day is 25-30 trees for 10-15 m height of trees, and 30-40 trees for less than 10 m height, of trees. One spadix can be tapped for 1 to 1.5 months. Two spadices in one tree can be tapped at the same time. Each tree (tall variety) can produce 2-3 litres of sap per day depending on season, age of tree, fertilizer used, etc. Preservation of the Sap Coconut sap is very perishable. It could start to deteriorate as soon as it flows out of the spadix due to fermentation by microflora (yeast) which converts the sucrose into invert sugar and furthermore to ethyl alcohol and acetic acid. The most important prevention of this deterioration is by keeping equipment used in tapping clean. The knife has to be sharp and clean.