Food for the future
Organic farming takes root in post-bomb Bali
Graeme MacRae

In the 1990s, the tourism industry in Bali boomed. Many Balinese became rich during this period. But farmers, the traditional upholders of the Balinese economy, became poorer. Costs of agricultural production and the cost of living went up, and the price of agricultural products, especially rice, rose very little. Farmers turned to other work, usually in tourism-related sectors, to make a living. Farmland was converted to other (usually tourism-related) uses. Young people were more attracted to the glamorous prospects offered by tourism than the hard work, dirty clothes and poor pay of farming.

The bombs in Kuta in October 2002 were not the end of tourism, but they were the beginning of the end of the fantasy, blindly held through the boom-years, that tourism was a sustainable long-term base for the Balinese economy. In the wake of the bomb, some advocated a more diversified and sustainable economic base. Many realised that agriculture had been forgotten - or at least marginalised - and that it should perhaps be reinstated at the centre of Balinese culture and economy. Some policy makers suggested developing ‘agro-industri’ and ‘agri-bisnis’ to compete in the global market.

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Perched on the slope of Mount Mangu, 1100 meter above the sea level, the village Kiadan, naturally offers a cool climate and a foggy morning in the rainy season. With the majestic mount Mangu on the background and surrounded by the combination of dense forest, lush coffee plantation, and mesmerizing rice field, in short, the village of Kiadan offers stunningly beautiful views to behold.

This village now develops its ecotourism project known as JED or Village Ecotourism Project supported by Wisnu Foundation and Starling Kencana Tours. This is not a so-called “ecotourism” project, with has neither respect to the surrounding environment nor involvement of the community and all its profit goes to the travel agent pocket. The ecotourism project (JED) in Kiadan village is a grass root movement; it is designed and managed by the local Subak community with local guides, local foods and local accommodation.

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Bali’s new Village Ecotourism Network provides an alternative to mass tourism.

Ibu Soma balances precariously on a small wooden stepladder. It wobbles a little, but she is practised at this. Rolling up her sleeves, she reaches into the tree and claims her tiny prizes one by one. They are sunset-coloured capsules, which she will sun-dry and husk, revealing the perfect coffee beans within. Her daughter picks some of the lower beans and slowly they begin to fill their basket. The work is methodical, and made even more meditative by the peacefulness of the forest-gardens around them.

The silence is interrupted only by birdsong. From far off, however, come the sounds of footsteps. Eventually a small group of visitors round a bend, pattering quietly in damp undergrowth and murmuring softly. They are headed by Gede, one of Bu Soma’s fellow coffee farmers, and a local eco-guide. They stop to admire Bu Soma’s harvest, and soon the little patch of garden is filled with chatter and laughter.

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