Veeteelt in Atjeh — cattle-breeding in Atjeh — is the subject of the eighteenth essay of Verkenningen in Atjeh, in which Broersma examines the cattle-stock of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden and the possibility of developing it as a source of slaughter-cattle for the Oostkust van Sumatra and for Java.
The Stock
The Atjehnese cattle are small and lively, fat and clean; the number of bulls is great, and they have between the shoulders a fat-boss, much better developed in the bulls than in the cows. The Atjehnese cattle is the zebu, presumably not pure. According to the figures in the year-report of the government vet for 1922, the cattle-stock of the gewest is distributed as follows: Groot-Atjeh 9.361 male, 18.127 female, 208 castrated; Pidië 14.465 male, 33.299 female, 5 castrated; Noordkust van Atjeh 19.703 male, 25.308 female, 160 castrated; Oostkust van Atjeh 13.706 male, 4.553 female; Gajo- en Alaslanden 283 male, 514 female, 405 castrated; Westkust van Atjeh 674 male, 88 female. In total 140.659 head — a figure that, the government vet himself noted, is ‘niet geheel’ correct, and that the cattle-stock is to be estimated at 300 thousand head.
The Markets
The principal cattle-markets (veepasars) are at Sibreuch in Groot-Atjeh, at Padang Tidji in Pidië, and at Bireuen in the Noordkust van Atjeh. The prices vary: in 1922 young bulls and small cows were bought for 30 guilders, while older fattened bulls brought 125 and 130 guilders. The buyers are usually Bengalis from Medan, who come to the markets for the supply of slaughter-cattle to the Oostkust van Sumatra. Beside the great markets, cattle-markets are also held elsewhere, for example at Lho’ Seumawe (in the landschap Tjoenda).
The Java Market
The meat-supply of the Oostkust van Sumatra already takes place partly from Atjeh. Yet that is only a limited market, against which Java could stand as an unlimited one. Java is no land for cattle-breeding. It has been tried in various mountain-regions to open and maintain an enterprise for cattle-breeding, but without success. Java has always had import from outside. Years ago Madoera was the great supplier. The Madurese was no skilful cattle-breeder, and he has let his stock bleed away until no export of significance could or might take place. Java imported more and more from Australia, an import on which one cannot reckon because in Australia cattle-disease (Texas-fever) often occurs, which makes the export undesirable. Finally Bali is to be named, which nowadays delivers much cattle to Java for slaughter, but which is not able to guarantee a lasting supply on a great scale.
Significance
Broersma’s argument is that Atjeh, with its 300 thousand head of cattle and its great grass-plains, could become a welcome supplier of slaughter-cattle to Java, provided that the interested parties are brought together and that a beginning is made with the choice of terrain in Atjeh for the planting of suitable grass, after which it can be tested whether the Atjehnese cattle does not thrive better there than on its blangs and in its kampongs. The Atjeh-Instituut might make it its task to promote that the cattle-wealth of the land should also yield profit for Java, and should become a second source of wealth for Atjeh itself.
See Also
- Atjeh-Instituut
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
- Sibreuch
- Padang Tidji
- Bireuen
- Lho Seumawe
- Tjoenda
- Oostkust van Sumatra
- Java
- Madoera
- Bali
- 1922
- 1923
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter XVIII, ‘Veeteelt als bron van welvaart’, pp. 123–127.
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923); Atjeh Patchouli-Olie, by Ir. W. Spoon (1932), where applicable.