Bamboo is a plant that has various benefits, especially in the field of crafts. Crafts made of bamboo, apart from being used for personal purposes, can also be traded. Gunungkidul is included in the area that produces bamboo crafts and some of them have entered the foreign market. One of them is bamboo crafts at the Nitikan Semanu Gunungkidul Padukuhan. One of them is the bamboo craft belonging to the Asrofi Tegar family. He revealed that his family started making bamboo crafts since 2002. Using bamboo from Gunungkidul, the craftsmen conjured bamboo slats into unique works such as lanterns, bamboo trays, various wedding souvenirs, tissue holders and so on. "Before standing, my father had helped simbah (grandfather) from 1987. Then in 1998 he got his first order, namely a tissue box," Asrofi said recently.
Asrofi added that the market for bamboo handicraft products belonging to his family was not only in Indonesia. Bamboo handicraft products from Nitikan Semanu Gunungkidul have penetrated European markets such as the Netherlands and Spain and even to America. "These are actually orders from PTs in the Yogya, Kulonprogo, Sleman areas which are not sold locally but in the export market. For example, he sold the coiled bamboo lanterns to the Netherlands. There used to be in Spain, America, and Europe. For now, most of them are in the Netherlands," he said. The prices for bamboo handicraft products here are quite diverse, starting from the cheapest, only IDR 1,500 to the most expensive, which can be up to IDR 1,500,000. Because playing in the export market, it is not uncommon for this craft business to receive orders in large quantities "As in 2008, I had the most orders, reaching 2,400 pcs. But on the other hand, when the rainy season arrives, production is constrained because some products have to be dried in the sun, while in the rainy season there is rarely hot sun. In addition, rain makes bamboo moist, so bamboo is prone to mold." It's really difficult during the rainy season because wanting to dry the craft materials is constrained, it should be three days in the sun. It can take even longer, up to a week, the drying process is too late. In addition, the bamboo becomes moist when it rains, so those who haven't been exposed to anti-fungal can pick up the fungus and the product can be rejected. Asrofi explained. Despite all these obstacles, he hopes that his family's bamboo craft industry can be of benefit to the community and can create jobs for the surrounding community and more broadly. "My hope is that in the future it will be useful as a field for earning a living and reducing the unemployment rate. Hopefully we can develop the human resources of the people around here through bamboo handicrafts," he concluded.
