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Sweet Dreams - The Sugar Industry in Java |
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This is the introduction, click here to return to the index. Quick links to the subject matter covered here.
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Sugar has been cultivated in Java for hundreds of years, the tropical climate with a significant dry season coupled with rich volcanic soils made it an ideal location for the crop. The original small scale method of cultivation and production was continued as late as 2001 and probably still is for all I know. What follows is a very brief and simplified introduction to a complex subject. When steam power for crushing cane was introduced, mills were needed but their size would have been limited by the distance bullock carts were able to travel. The introduction of cane tramways would have allowed a step up and the establishment of 'Decauville' light railways with small steam locomotives would have laid the basis for the industry as I saw it on my first visit to Java in 1975. One key point to make about the industry is that the availability of combustible cane waste ('bagasse') meant that it was energy independent and that included fuel for the steam locomotives. Larger mills offered 'economy of scale' and what were once literally hundreds of mills slowly reduced over the years until there were about 50 left in the early 1970s. In between there had been a bumpy ride. The late 1800s saw rapid mechanisation and growth which continued into the 20th century. After World War 1, the years up to around 1930 saw Java climb the ladder of sugar producers until at one point it was briefly the world's #1, almost all this sugar being exported, the industry benefiting from a seemingly endless supply of cheap labour for cultivation and harvesting. The great depression dealt a devastating blow to the industry from which it never recovered, in the sense that it was unable to make new investment which would helped keep it at the top. At the same time, Java was losing its major export markets especially British India and other countries in East Asia as they expanded their own production for local consumption ('import substitution'). Many mills closed, some permanently, but some were able to reopen as World War 2 approached. The Japanese had no great need for Javan sugar and the estates were used almost exclusively for cultivation of rice. This was easily done as under the Dutch system, sugar was grown one year in three and rice in between, a system which has lasted and can be seen in some of the pictures in this survey. A glance at the locomotive list for 1980 will show a parallel in delivery activity, with few locomotives post 1930 and only four after World War 2. Afterwards, the Dutch were never able to fully take back the mills and, with independence, they were either fully nationalised under the Ministry of Agriculture or taken under the control of other ministries. For the latter, I loosely use the term 'private mills', but this simply indicates that as government owned companies, they had a fair degree of day to day autonomy. Reopening took place in stages and mills and locomotives which had largely been mothballed were put back in use. Steam powered machinery was made to last but in this case, by the 1970s, equipment which was 50 or more years old had seen intensive use for a small fraction of it. In effect, it was barely 'run in', Javan sugar with its hundreds of narrow gauge steam locomotives might fairly have been described as an industrial 'Sleeping Beauty'. They were 'safe' as the country had no money to invest in modernising the industry and, in any case, the mills acted as a giant job creation scheme which held back some of the hordes who would otherwise have flooded the large cities. It was at this point that I stumbled upon it in 1975, initially it was a handy bonus while chasing the 'Iron Dinosaurs' of PNKA / PJKA but it soon became an obsession and for some 25 years from the early 1980s, I was an almost annual visitor, initially for a month or more while I was in conventional employment, but from 1995 it was for around 2 months. Such a habit didn't come cheaply but from 1991, I ran my own dedicated tours which paid all the basic costs of visiting and I could do my 'research' before and after them up to the generous limits of my tourist visa. It wasn't all about the railways, at the start of the 21st century, I realised that the interiors of the mills with their stationary steam engines were as interesting and historic as the steam locomotives outside and I set about documenting them, initially with still photography and then with video. By happy chance, this coincided with the availability of digital still and video cameras which performed well at low light levels. The results are available both on this site and also on YouTube.
Steam locomotives in Java are now effectively history and many of the traditional mills have closed in recent years. However, at a few mills you can still see hand cut cane arriving by rail and also large stationary steam engines powering the mills, although only at Wringinanom near Situbondo can you see both. I haven't visited Java since 2010 but I am pleased to say that a number of local enthusiasts have developed an interest in the remaining sugar railways and their videos can be found on YouTube. Just search for one of the following and you will soon find them - Semboro - Wringinanom - Olean - Kedawung. Finally I must add a few words of appreciation for the people of Java who always made me extremely welcome and often went out of their way to assist me as I went about my 'business' even if very few would have understood the reason for it initially. I hope that is apparent from many of the captions for pictures secured by what went far beyond ordinary cooperation.
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