Gum Resin

Resin trees that can be harvested are resin trees aged 15 to 20 years. Resin trees that are ready to be harvested have been made notches or holes in the tree trunks to get the resin gum out. The frequency of harvesting normal resin is 1 month (± 30 days) because at that time the resin produced has begun to harden with a fairly good quality. But along with the rampant theft of resin, the time of harvesting resin becomes faster to 14 to 20 days.

In one harvest, it usually takes a few days for farmers to complete harvesting, depending on the area they have and the distance from the settlement. If the landowner cannot harvest his resin himself because of something like land too far away or too large a land, it is usually often made to other people.

To get resin gum is done by injuring the stem skin to the cambium (making a notch). The shape of the notch is a triangle with an initial size of about 3-4 cm. The resin will come out of the injured cambium and gather in the notch made during the specified time. Gum resin that has been collected within a month is ready to be harvested.

Determination of the size and distance of the notch with various considerations as follows:

1. triangular shape makes it easy to collect resin and harvest it, besides the resin produced is also cleaner than wood mixture.
2. the side size of the initial notch is 3-4 cm enough to collect resin and to save the stem (so that the stem wound is not too large).
3. vertical distance between notches 40 cm so that the adjacent notches do not meet, besides the notch serves as a footrest to rise to the top, a distance of 40 cm makes it easy to climb.
4. horizontal distance between notches of 50 cm in order for the notch to meet and for saving the stem.

The stem savings in question are so that the stems that are injured / made notch are too wide (the injured surface is not too wide) so that the productivity of resin can last for a long time without damaging the resin stem.

In harvesting resin, the tools used are:

1. an ax that serves to scrap / remove resin from a notch
2. a bucket / basket that functions as a damar shelter that has been scraped on a tree
3. ambon (rope from rattan) which serves to help climb trees
4. Bebalang which serves to accommodate resin as well as to transport
5. Sacks used to hold amber

Technical harvesting resin is as follows:

Tools preparation Resin which is in the bottom notch is taken first. Resin is taken with an ax. The direction of the ax is to the three sides of the notch with the aim that the resin taken is not broken, the size is large, intact and so the resin does not fall to the ground.

Damar is accommodated with a basket or bucket, the empty notch is injured by the cambium to stimulate the discharge of amber again

After finishing with the bottom notch, then take the resin from the top notch. For notches that cannot be reached without climbing, ambon (rope from rattan) is used to help climb. Ambon is knotted in such a size that it can surround the tree and hold the harvester's body. How to go up by moving the ambon towards the top and the foot resting on the notch below

The resin produced is different in each time. Usually in a day damar 35-40 kg of amber is produced per person per day. If medium resin is good, damar trees are harvested around 10-12 tree trunks, but if damar production is bad, the harvested trees can reach 20 trees for the same yield. The decrease in production is approximately 30-40%.