Yana simply wanted to plant some banana trees on the plot of land outside the plantation as he has done for years. His father and grandfather have also tilled the same land. Like many farmers in Dawuan, West Java, Yana usually grows bananas, cassava and vegetables. Rubber, teak and cocoa grow in the 15,000-hectare plantation next to their land.

This practice of subsistence farming prevailed long before the British came to open the N. Co. Plan