[Kabar-indonesia] Bali's traditional farming techniques stand test of time

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Jakarta Post
November 9, 2006

Feature

Traditional farming techniques stand test of time

Trisha Sertori, Contributor, Gianyar

A return to early organic agricultural methods is proving as
economically healthy as the crops produced, according to
several Balinese farmers who are growing rice, spices and
coffee organically across Bali.

Multigenerational rice farmer, I. Made Chakra of Pengosekan
village in Gianyar, has for many years been tilling his
family plot of 5,000 square meters organically, a task made
easier earlier this year with assistance from the Indonesian
Development of Education for Permaculture (IDEP).

Chakra says he began to move to organic farming when he
observed the increasing loss of naturally occurring animals
and insects on his farm. A loss, he says, caused through the
widespread use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in
modern farming methods.

"I remembered my beautiful childhood. There were frogs, eels
and dragonflies everywhere. I remember when I was a boy
thinking how lucky I was to be born in a place where people
didn't need money.

We could survive on the rice fields alone. We had vegetation
such as ferns growing on the edge of the rice fields and
plenty of protein with the frogs and eels," said Chakra,
adding that he had felt a sense of pride as a child to live
among such plenty.

The introduction of Green Revolution rice dramatically
changed how rice fields functioned, according to Chakra, who
witnessed the rapid collapse of what had been highly
successful closed environments that were in balance with the
earth's natural cycles.

"I am now quite sad. There is no more of that pride in what
we naturally have here. In the past there was a very close
connection between the people and the land. That connection
has faded away now.

"Modern farming has severed that connection I loved. I want
my children to experience growing up with that connection to
their land," Chakra said.

Putting his energies into ensuring his children have access
to that connection through his organic farming techniques
has helped Chakra rediscover traditional organic farming
methods, which he shares with others through regular village
development programs.

Chakra says these programs are essential because not only
was much of the natural environment lost to modern farming,
but knowledge also.

"It's extraordinary, but many farmers today do not realize
that the vegetables they grow produce seed. That they can
harvest and grow seed from their vegetable crops. They are
so used to having to buy seed for growing, it's as though
that's all they know.

So we teach people about seed harvesting during our village
development programs," Chakra said, adding he has
established a seed collection bank on his property with
further plans for a rare plants seed bank, that will also
house seed from early rice strains.

A workforce of ducks is the backbone of Chakra's rice farm,
which he calls his "lovely workers," because as they travel
across the rice fields they devour pests, turn the soil and
leave natural fertilizer in their wake.

"Chicken tractors" are another feature of the farm, and
these birds, like their avian duck cousins, fertilize
patches of soil, scratching and tilling it ready for
planting.

"I move their cage each two weeks. The earth they have
worked over is ready for planting and very healthy. I do not
need to use any chemical fertilizer or pesticides at all.
Local farmers find that unbelievable," said Chakra who also
uses the Systemized Rice Intensification (SRI) planting
method for his rice, which gives yields four times higher
than traditional planting methods and uses 80 percent less
water.

In the SRI system single grains of rice are planted 30
centimeters apart, growing and dividing to give much higher
yields than the standard practice of mass planting seeds.

Chakra said the higher yield was due to the rice receiving
greater sunlight and less competition from the other rice
plants, which in turn also reduced the water levels needed
in the rice fields.

And with water access becoming a growing issue among rice
farmers, the savings in water use alone should be convincing
farmers to change farming techniques, Chakra suggests.

"People are fighting over water now and that will just get
worse into the future. But farmers are still reluctant to
shift to organic farming with the SRI method. It's a matter
of seeing and believing.

"When I harvest my crop they will be able to see I harvest
more rice at a lower production cost and sell organic rice
at nearly three times the price of rice farmed using
chemicals. Organic farming is simply better economics," said
Chakra.

To guarantee his rice is organic, Chakra needed to establish
a filter system for chemically laden water run off from
surrounding farms. IDEP staff member Made Suraja from
Singaraja stepped in and developed a multifilter pond system
that echoes natural wetland systems.

"We looked at wetlands and saw that where chemical run off
was spilling into lakes, nature had addressed the problem
with water hyacinth. So we built water hyacinth ponds that
filter the chemical runoff, which then passes through a
stone garden before entering the rice fields.

We have fish living in some of the ponds as biological
indicators, which tells us that the water is healthy,"
Suraja said.

He pointed out that for arid zone Singaraja farmers a move
towards organic farming was essential for their future
survival.

"There are many benefits in organic farming for farmers in
areas like Singaraja. We can grow a lot of legumes such as
peanuts and long beans, which are nitrogen-fixing plants.

"When these plants are used as rotation crops, farmers have
much better corn yields. If they mulch, less water is needed
and by using cow dung as fertilizer they do not have the
costs of chemical fertilizers, and much healthier soils,"
said Suraja.

But like the difficulties Chakra faces in Pengosekan,
convincing Singaraja farmers to change their methods is not
easy, so a model organic farm had been established in
Singaraja where people can see the benefits first hand.

"We invite people to come and see what we are doing and in
that way they witness the economic benefits of organic
farming. Seeing is believing, and the fact is, that if
farmers don't change their methods there will in the future
be more and more farmers facing extreme poverty.

"The cost of buying chemical pesticides and fertilizers is
growing to be more expensive than what farmers earn from
their harvests. More and more chemical fertilizer and
pesticides are needed to grow crops as the land is degraded
from over use and pests become more resistant. And none of
it guarantees a better harvest," said Suraja.

For Seribatu village coffee and spice grower, Wayan Kesuma
Yasa, organic farming, when coupled with agrotourism offers
benefits to the people of his village through employment and
to tourists through education on Bali's agricultural
industry.

Yasa set up his BSA coffee and spices agrotourism venture
six years ago and has been pleased with the level of
interest shown by visitors to Bali in coffee and spice
growing techniques. Due to his direct coffee sales Yasa also
benefits local coffee growers purchasing "all their good
quality coffee beans," guaranteeing local farmers a ready,
and growing, market for their produce.

"I prefer to be able to sell only organically grown coffee,
which is what I grow on my plantation, but I can not say
that other farmers follow my way of farming," said Yasa
pointing out that because of his organic farming techniques
his property was alive with birdsong every morning.

Yasa's coffee and spice plantation is wholly organic, with
cow dung and leaf mulch allowing for the growth of
microorganisms within the soil structure that aerate and
breakdown the natural fertilizers, returning nutrients to
the soil.

"I don't use chemicals in my plantation so there are lots of
animals in the soils and loads of birds here. I believe 100
percent that organic farming is a better way to farm because
it keeps the soil healthy and nature in balance.

"I drink my coffee here every morning, just to see the view
and listen to the birds singing to me. This is a simple
business where we still roast the coffee by hand over a wood
fire and grind it by hand in small amounts -- the old way,
the original way," said Yasa proving that our ancestors had
it right when it comes to farming and coffee.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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