Bali needs a new green revolution

Bali needs a new green revolution

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

With tourism in Bali at its lowest point in decades, the
government and the people are now making efforts to return to
their roots, literally.

Last Sunday on Jan. 12, President Megawati Soekarnoputri
visited the remote Salamadeg farming village in Tabanan, around
70 kilometers northwest of Denpasar, to encourage local farmers
to increase their rice production.

Clad in a fashionable black suit accentuated with a red
collar, the president in her capacity as chairperson of the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) walked
down a narrow, muddy path and planted a rice seedling in the
paddy.

"I urge the farmers of Tabanan to maintain their rice fields
and to increase production so that they can provide food,"
Megawati told the local farmers.

Tabanan has been Bali's most prominent rice producing region,
yielding thousands of tons of rice and other agriculture
commodities. In the past, Bali was able to provide all its own
food commodities, including rice, corn, vegetables, cattle, fish
and poultry products.

But as the island focused more on tourism, which generated
millions of foreign exchange dollars, the local people began to
leave their traditional vocations such as farmers and fishermen.

Today, Bali has to buy rice and other commodities from Java
and other islands. The island cannot even provide flowers and
young coconut leaves, needed for daily offerings by the majority
Balinese Hindu.

"I hope that Bali could again become a hub of agriculture
because now we have to focus on agriculture in order to be able
to reach our sustainability in food provision," Megawati said.

In the last few years, most Balinese would have rejected
Megawati's idea. But, as the island's tourism industry has now
been crippled by the terrorist attacks on Oct.12, the idea is
gaining more popularity.

Even Bali Governor I Dewa Made Beratha has declared the year
2003 as the year to promote agriculture. Various seminars and
meetings with experts have been held to obtain necessary input to
implement its agricultural programs. Yet, many experts were quite
skeptical about the government's intentions.

Nyoman Erawan, economic analyst at Udayana University, Bali
has a great agricultural potential. Before the tourism industry
began to grow by leaps and bounds in the late l960s, agriculture
was the island's main priority.

Millions of hectares of rice fields, plantations and forested
areas produce abundant sources of food and other agricultural
commodities.

The rapid and uncontrolled growth of tourism has badly
affected the sector as the island had to sacrifice its green
forests, multi-terraced paddy fields and fertile plantations to
make way for various tourism development projects including the
construction of luxury hotels, villas, restaurants, entertainment
centers and supporting infrastructure like roads and airports.

"Year by year, the agricultural sector became marginalized
both by the provincial government and the Balinese people who
idolized the fast-track US dollar-oriented tourism industry,"
Erawan said in a seminar on the future of the Balinese economy in
Sanur recently.

Bali's economic structure has been drastically changed from
agricultural-oriented to tourism-oriented. The change of the
structure has certainly affected the output by the agricultural
sector.

"Almost all regencies in Bali experienced a drastic change in
their economic structure. But the worst ones happened in Badung
regency and Denpasar mayoralty, two of Bali's richest tourist
areas," Erawan said.

According to a study released by the university, Badung and
Denpasar received less than 10 percent of their revenue from the
agricultural sector. Almost 80 percent of their income comes from
foreign tourist dollars.

The change in economic structure has also impacted on
employment opportunities. Over the last four decades, around 40
percent of the nearly 2 million strong workforce in Bali has been
absorbed into the tourism sector.

Job opportunities in the agricultural sector have been
declining significantly due to the change in land ownership,
unattractive incentives and the reduction in rice fields and
plantation areas.

"Many local people have sold their rice fields to investors or
real estate developers," explained Putu Suasta, a noted
sociologist said recently. "Farmers and villagers prefer to work
in hotels, restaurants and as tour guides, which they regard as
more respected and financially secure than being a farmer."

Erawan added that tourism has also created social problems
including overpopulation of urban areas. "People living in remote
villages have left in droves for the bright lights of Badung
(includes Kuta, Legian etc.) and Denpasar trying to find work
there," he said. Tourism has also created a wide gap between the
wealthy urbanized areas and the rest of the regencies including
Buleleng in the north, Jembrana in the west, Klungkung and Karang
Asem in the east as Tabanan and Bangli in the middle of the
island.

"If we want to develop the agricultural sector, we have to do
it in a revolutionary way in terms of technology, financing and
strong political will from the government," he said.

Ida Ayu Agung Mas, founder of the sustainable tourism program,
the Sua Bali foundation, commented sharply, "Agriculture has been
neglected for so long. It was a past issue," she said.

Now, after the terror attacks, everyone in Bali is busy
talking about agriculture again. "If we talk about agriculture in
traditional terms, that era is already gone. We cannot rely on
traditional systems. It's too late," she added. Ida Ayu went on
to say that in the past few decades, the Balinese people seemed
to become addicted to tourism." Tourism is like an addictive
substance. People cannot release themselves from it," maintained
the lecturer at the University of Udayana.

"Many Balinese people have left their paddy fields, their
fishing boats to join the appealing tourism industry which offers
more glittering and dynamic activities and probably, larger
income," she mentioned. Ida Ayu made it clear about her doubts
whether the provincial government's willingness to shift the
robust tourism industry to the now abandoned agricultural sector.

"I really doubt that it is anything but political rhetoric to
appease the Balinese people who are now suffering since Oct. 12,"
she explained. In order to develop agriculture, the government,
she said, must have clear and achievable action plans. "as a
long-term program, it could be possible," Ida Ayu maintained.

Creating people-oriented agricultural programs will require
honesty and clear minds. "In the globalization and free trade
era, relying on traditional systems of agriculture without
certain protective efforts and incentives is a suicidal action,"
warned Ida Ayu.

Tourism and capitalism have set aside the roles of agriculture
and farmers. "Balinese farmers have don't have a pride in their
profession and feel disgraced about being a farmer," she said.

"The problem lies on whether the provincial government,
legislative members and all of the Balinese people are willing to
intelligently reverse the trend of the current tourism paradigm
and to reconsider agriculture as their main priority."