Spicing up dreams: A mother’s journey into pepper farming

By Shcully Williams Pilai

Black pepper farming is a famous cultivation activity among the local people of Sarawak. This activity has become the primary source of income for rural communities to support their families.

Aya looks for ripe black pepper on her farm.

Nevertheless, this group finds it challenging to help the children’s education or meet the household’s needs due to the rising costs of goods and living. This is precisely what Kamara Ipang, a 55-year-old mother and a smallholder in Lubok Antu’s countryside, is dealing with.

Kamara was born in Nanga Delok Batang Ai and is a villager of Sekunyit Lemanak. She is taming herself in black pepper cultivation and has a sweet nickname Aya. She dreamed of living as a smallholder in the countryside after retiring as a Housekeeping Manager in 2016.

As she saw her daughter Mayang grow into adolescence, Aya yearned for a simple life.

“The city is a different world to raise children,” Aya said. Her eyes reflected a mix of nostalgia and determination.

“I wanted Mayang to grow up and live her youth with a simple life in the village as her other siblings did back then. It was the perfect time to return to the roots, and I do not regret putting my career aside.”

After a few months of adapting to Sekunyit’s villagers, Aya decided to alter the course of her family’s future. For the sake of Mayang’s education and financial support, she entered the world of pepper farming, which was foreign to her.

When Aya first started her journey, she was unsure of herself. Armed with determination and curiosity, she dove into the intricacies of pepper farming. Local farmers saw her strong determination. They shared their knowledge and became allies in her quest for education.

Ripe black pepper (Piper nigrum) on Aya’s farm.

Aya plucks ripe black pepper on her farm.

Aya’s motion into pepper cultivation began with soil preparation, followed by growing pepper saplings, choosing a suitable fertiliser, and adequately controlling pest. She started by planting 100 pepper saplings on her small farm.

“Growing pepper saplings was the most difficult thing I had ever done. I cried because some of the pepper saplings I had raised died. After all, I was a novice back then”, Aya shared.  

Besides, Aya emphasised that “cultivating crops is difficult. Black pepper can yield a lot of fruits and profits at times, but it can also yield less. Its profit always depends on the local market or abroad market. If the demand for black pepper is high, then the profit is vice versa.”

Aya employs the weeding method, picking the weeds out with her hands.

Like other farmers in agriculture, facing loss is as normal as the weather. The COVID-19 pandemic made Aya suffer a considerable loss. Due to the movement control order three years ago, she could not sell her black pepper or buy pesticides and fertilisers in town. Thus, many of her black pepper plants perished from pests and did not produce much fruit to sell for the upcoming month.

Aya expressed her feelings: “I was depressed at the time because I could not afford to support my household’s needs and my daughter’s educational expenses, as she was an STPM candidate and needed money to pay for her books at that time. Luckily, she stayed at a hostel. At least her daily food was guaranteed even though her side needs were not.”

Aya did extra work on the villagers’ palm oil farm, black pepper farm, and paddy field. All the work she did was to cover her daughter’s household expenses and to buy pesticides and fertilisers. However, with grit, Aya turned adversity into inspiration for her daughter to finish her STPM studies.

During the endemic phase, the selling price of black pepper has recovered after a sharp drop. Although the selling price is not what it once was, it is still sufficient to maintain Aya’s household.

Aya knew that her daughter had lofty goals, but she was hesitant to express them and was concerned about the financial issues that her mother would face later. Aya was aware of her daughter’s desires and saved some money by selling black pepper for a year. With those savings, Aya convinced her daughter to accept an offer from a local university for her bachelor’s degree study.

As a mother who is alert to the financial situation and acknowledges the rise in the cost of living and goods, Aya recognised that not only fertiliser and insecticides but the expenses related to her daughter have increased. She used the same methods as in the pandemic era to get extra income for her daughter.

Aya applies the fertilisation method by using a sprayer machine on each black pepper tree on her farm.

Even though she got many injuries due to her work and ageing body, she never complained and never failed to give her daughter money every month.

“During her semester break, she will lend a hand at the farm and do house chores. I never gripe about my responsibilities to her, and I have faith in her,” Aya said with a smile as she misses her daughter.

Beyond the rows of pepper plants, Aya’s journey symbolised empowerment. She demonstrated the resilience of a mother determined to write her destiny in rural areas by farming black pepper and defying modern societal norms in parenting children.

Her achievement hit an emotional chord with the local villagers, encouraging other parents to persevere and consider unconventional paths to support their children’s education. She also encourages the young people in her village to continue studying until they reach their dreams.

Aya realised she was growing in the quiet moments between sapling and harvesting the black pepper.

“I have learned that growth is not just about plants. It is about nurturing dreams and seeing them bloom,” she said after realising the unexpected experience the journey had given her.

As the sun sets over Aya’s pepper farm, the future looks promising for her daughter Mayang, who is in her third year of studies and will graduate in two years. The gentle breeze that blows across their fields carries the memory of a mother’s sacrifice and unconditional love. The successful harvest brought not only peppers but also the hope of a better future for Mayang.

After fertilising her black pepper field, Aya and her dog take a break on the slopes.

Aya pats her dog, who she takes to the farm every day.

• This article was written by a student from the Strategic Communication Programme at the Faculty of Education, Language and Communication, UNIMAS.