SINJAI, Indonesia--In a village here on the lush, mountainous island of Sulawesi in central Indonesia, one house rises above the rest in testament to an unlikely trade: beetles.

“Thanks to the insects I sent to Japan, I built this house,” said the man behind a small but thriving export business that has reshaped life in his community.

Ali buys rhinoceros and stag beetles from local farmers and ships them to Japan through an exporter—a venture that earns him substantial profits while providing villagers with a new source of income.

Once dependent solely on crops, local farmers now supplement their livelihoods by catching these glossy, armored insects prized by Japanese collectors and cherished by children that often sell for high prices abroad.

Yet the boom has a darker side. Conservationists warn that unchecked harvesting may be depleting beetle populations and disturbing the fragile balance of Sulawesi’s forest ecosystems.

SAVE THOSE BANANAS

Perched high in a tree, a farmer shakes loose a stream of dark shapes.

Ali, 49, is waiting below to carefully gather the male Sulawesi giant stag beetles (Dorcus titanus titanus) after their tumble to earth. With their massive jaws, some stretch nearly 10 centimeters long and can fetch thousands of yen apiece in Japan.

With a satisfied smile, the veteran trader hands the farmer a few bills. “I’ll be back for more,” he said.

Indonesian rhinoceros and stag beetles are wildly popular in Japan, sought-after varieties including the Caucasus beetle (Chalcosoma chiron chiron) and the Sumatran giant stag beetle (Dorcus titanus yasuokai).

Between 2021 and 2024, Indonesia exported roughly 3,400 kilograms of insects, according to government statistics. Of that, about 3,300 kg were bound for Japan.

Across this sprawling tropical archipelago that is one of the world’s richest hotspots for insect diversity, middlemen collect beetles from local farmers and ship them abroad through licensed exporters.

Ali has been in the trade for more than two decades. Known locally as “kumbang,” beetles have transformed his fortunes.

“With kumbang I built my house and sent my children to college,” he said.

In the mountains of southern Sulawesi, his home bears a crest emblazoned with a stag beetle—a “beetle palace” that stands out proudly in the village.

In 1997, Ali was working as a traveling salesman when a friend urged him not to kill the beetles he found but to capture them alive. Learning they could be sold to Japan, he realized that what locals had long dismissed as crop-damaging pests carried unexpected value.

Soon after, he became a beetle trader, buying glossy, armored insects from 20 to 30 farmers and reselling them to licensed exporters.

The shipping season runs from February to August. In a warehouse behind his home, Sulawesi giant stag beetles and giraffe stag beetles (Prosopocoilus giraffa) sit in crates, waiting to be packed for export.

Ali employs up to five workers during peak times, working through the night to prepare shipments.

In Japan, some beetles can fetch tens of thousands of yen, but in Sulawesi they are still regarded by many as little more than nuisances. While farmers once killed them outright, more are now setting traps to turn the insects into what they call “easy money.”

Rice farmer Mansur, 51, has lined his yard with jars of rotting bananas whose pungent smell draws in swarms of beetles. Peering inside one of the jars offers a view of the hard-shelled critters writhing at the bottom.

When Mansur phoned Ali to say the jars were full, the beetle entrepreneur came to collect them and bought 87, mostly stags, on the spot. The haul added to Ali’s total purchases this season, which came to nearly 200 beetles between February and June alone.

Coffee farmer Amiruddin, 50, uses the same banana-based method to lure beetles and exchanged 42 that day.

“Even other traders have asked me to sell,” he said.

Ali added, “As more people realize these insects have value, more are joining in.”

THE ECOLOGICAL COST

But Ali has started noticing troubling signs. Where he once shipped beetles seven times a season, by July this year he had managed only two as catches have dwindled.

“Maybe we’re catching too many,” he admits with concern.

The Indonesian government, wary of ecological damage, has introduced collection limits. In 2024, authorities in Bali restricted the capture of certain species, including the giraffe stag beetle.

“Regulations on species at risk of decline need to be reviewed continuously,” one official told The Asahi Shimbun.

Japanese municipalities, too, have sounded alarms, warning that the release of foreign beetles into the wild could upset local ecosystems.

For now, the trade endures—supporting livelihoods in Sulawesi even as it tests the limits of the natural world. 

（This article was written by Kota Kawano, correspondent in Jakarta. Staff reporter Rizki Akbar Hasan contributed to this report.)