Farming becomes a thing of the past in Bali

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Traditional Balinese farmers are losing their fields amid the onslaught of development.

IB Adnyana Manuaba, a cultural expert and tourist activities observer, said Bali lost more than 1,000 hectares of precious ricefields in the last 20 years to make way for the development of tourist resorts including hotels, restaurants, residential complexes, road construction and other tourist and business facilities.

The projects mostly affected ricefields and plantations in urban areas, especially those in the provincial capital of Denpasar and Badung regency.

Dozens of farmers' organizations dealing with irrigation -- locally known as Subak -- only have their names and their "pura bedugul" (temples) where the goddess Sri was praised and honored.

In Tabanan regency, most ricefields lack water, while in city areas like Denpasar there are no more ricefields.

Secretary of the Denpasar municipal administration Nengah Sepud revealed around 5,694 hectares (45.92 percent) were the site of buildings and facilities, with 6,704 hectares left.

Development projects in Denpasar reach about 2.6 percent annually, meaning the city's open spaces will eventually be affected by the projects.

It would be difficult to halt development activities in Denpasar and its adjacent areas which have been designated as a business and tourist city.

History

The Subak is the centuries-old irrigation system adopted by the Balinese farmers since 1071 and written in a historical manuscript, the Bebetin.

The manuscript tells that the system was developed by an agricultural expert from the ancient Balinese kingdom. According to data from Subak Museum in Tabanan, there are more than 1,300 Subak organizations in Bali taking care of around 100,000 hectares of ricefields.

The island has abundant water sources from several lakes, such as Tamblingan, Buyan, Beratan and Batur. The water from the four major lakes was irrigated to ricefields in eight regencies in Bali.

Balinese farmers still faithfully adopt the Subak system and maintain its organization. The system is closely related to religious activities.

In each of the four lakes, farmers and the community built holy temples to glorify the divine spirit and the gods which, they believed, have bestowed much water and prosperity on the people.

The biggest temples were built on the main water sources of lakes called the ulun danu, which functioned as a place to hold annual rituals. Other temples were erected on the river streams, called the Ulun Empelan temples, on ricefields (pura ulun suwi) and the bedugul temple, the smallest and the last temple.

Based on the Subak system, water from the lakes must be distributed evenly to all ricefields in the respective areas.

Members of the Subak organization regulated water distribution through small channels to every member's property. The water channel was only divided by banana trunks so that every farmer would gain similar amounts of water.

The introduction of the modern irrigation system has more or less disturbed the traditional and more environmentally friendly Subak system.

The modern irrigation system has created a lot of friction between the local government and the farmers. The system requires strong concrete channel construction to distribute the water to the ricefields

A farmer in Tabanan, Nyoman Pestika, explained that the concrete construction was destroyed by many farmers to allow the Subak system.

"The distribution of water was so unfair. Some farmers got plenty of water for their ricefields, the other ricefields were dry," Nyoman said.

The government also recently introduced The Association of Farmers which regulates the use of water in their areas.

"What is the use of setting up such an association? We have already established Subak system," complained heads of Subak organizations in Jati Luwih and other villages in Tabanan regency.

In addition to the government, traditional Balinese farmers face serious threats from private investors.

A number of private companies have plans to acquire hectares of ricefields and vegetable fields to make way for various development projects.

A large-scale investor, for instance, plans to buy 300 hectares around Batulumbung-Soka holy temple near Jatiluwih village in Tabanan.

"At first that investor wanted to develop agribusiness but later planned to build a golf course," said a farmer.

With the rapid development projects, Balinese farmers face a bleak future.

"What will happen to our precious properties? The government and the private investors always think of development projects and ignore the fate of farmers and the island's precious ricefields," complained a farmer.