Kuningan, West Java Province, Java Region, Indonesia

🇮🇩 Kuningan is a town and district located in eastern West Java, Indonesia, between Cirebon and Tasikmalaya, about 200 km east of Jakarta. It is the administrative centre of Kuningan Regency. The district is located east of Mount Cereme/Ciremai (3.078 m), the highest mountain in West Java. The eastern part of the district is a valley. The district's landmark is a statue of a horse, called Kuda Kuningan and its motto is Kuningan Aman (Safe) Sehat (Healthy) Rindang (Leafy) Indah (Beautiful), abbreviated as Kuningan ASRI.

Administrative divisions Kuningan District is divided into 16 villages which are as follows: • Ancaran • Awirarangan • Cibinuang • Cigintung • Cijoho • Ciporang • Cirendang • Citangtu • Karangtawang • Kasturi • Kedungarum • Kuningan • Padarek • Purwawinangun • Winduhaji • Windusengkahan.

Geography Kuningan is located in the eastern part of West Java. It is bordered by Cirebon Regency to the north, Majalengka Regency to the west, Ciamis Regency and Cilacap Regency to the south, and by Brebes Regency and Cilacap Regency (both in Central Java Province) to the east and southeast. The regency capital is the town of Kuningan. Its mean elevation is 680 metres (2,520 ft) above sea level. The regency's landscape is composed of volcanoes, steep terrain, forests, mountains rivers, and fertile agricultural land. The highest mountain in the province, Ciremai (3,076 m) is located between the border of this regency and Majalengka Regency. There are numerous tropical rainforests in Kuningan, which contain tree species such as Pinus (Pinus merkusii), teureup (Artocarpus elasticus), yellow mahogany (Dysoxylum caulostachyum), langsat (Lansium domesticum), and putat (Planchonia valida).

Kuningan has an area of 1,194.09 km². The western and southern parts are relatively mountainous, around 266–720 m above sea level, while the eastern and northern parts are lower, between 120 and 220 m. Most of the rivers in the regency flow toward the Java Sea from the western and southern to the northern and eastern parts of the regency. The exception is the Jolang River, which flows southward to the Indian Ocean.

In Darma District, there is the Darma Dam (Waduk Darma) functioning as a clean water and irrigation source, fish farm, and tourist destination. The construction of the dam was started in 1942, but it was completed in the early 1960s. A legendary creature in the form of a giant white eel was believed by residents as the reason for the lengthy duration of the construction.

Demographics According to the 2000 census, Kuningan had 958,753 residents which made the density 813/km². Around 83% of them were in rural area, while the rest were in the city (regency) center. The field of works varied at that time: 169,509 people were in agriculture, 1,355 in mining, 24,965 in processing industry, 1,084 in water, gas, and electricity, 24,474 in constructions and engineering, 1,995 in commerce, 19,342 in transportation, 1,626 in finance, 41,851 in services, and the rest of 769 were in other fields.

According to the 2010 census, Kuningan's population was 1,035,589 people, consisting of 520,632 males and 514,957 females. The population was 97% Muslim, 2% Catholics and 1% followers of other religions. Its ethnic composition consisted of Sundanese 95%, Javanese 2%, and other groups 3%. The 2020 census showed a population of 1,167,686, while the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 1,201,764. In addition to Indonesian, the official national language, the other widely spoken language in the regency is Sundanese. In some areas near the eastern border with Central Java, Javanese and Banyumasan are also spoken.

Economy Small scale enterprise in the regency includes the production of patchouli oil, an essential oil produced from Patchouli. But the cost and quality of patchouli oil produced in the area still needs to be improved. The selling price of patchouli in the region fluctuates markedly. This reflects several factors including market access to end users and the role of national brokers in the marketing chain. Standards of processing and refining of raw materials are not of high standards. Distillation is done at the local level and quality is still low (not meeting ISO levels). Amongst other things, this is because farmers who are producing local patchouli oil do not pay attention to factors such as the treatment of raw materials, the proportion of patchouli stems used with leaves, distillation methods, types of material used, reliance on solar stills, and inappropriate cooling and circulation techniques in production.

Quality improvement efforts that need to be adopted include improving the quality of the Fe (iron) content of patchouli oil because excessive levels make the oil too dark. Purification can reduce levels of iron from as high as 340.2 ppm down to 104.5 ppm. Further, densities that too small or too large reduce the low percentage of essential oil which can recovered.

Identification of the main components of local patchouli oil indicates a value of patchouli alcohol (PA) of about 27-29%. Improved treatment of material to be distilled can raise levels of PA to about 30-32%.