Bali continues agriculture push on shaky ground

The Star

a day ago

JAKARTA: Bali seeks to boost agricultural development to reduce the provincial economy's reliance on tourism, but the island's farmers face hurdles in upping their game.
The regional administration has outlined agriculture and food security as a priority in its 2025-2030 development strategy, aligning with President Prabowo Subianto 's goal of national food self-sufficiency.
As part of that effort, the central government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore on food safety, agricultural technology and capacity building for young farmers on June 16, during the President's visit to the island state.
Balinese lawmaker Arya Wedakarna of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) recently encouraged local youths to shift from tourism to the agriculture industry as part of a wider drive to diversify the province's economy.
'Bali will have fewer tourists! While we are looking for a solution, we support non-tourism sectors. Let's switch to agriculture, farming, fishing,' Arya wrote in his Instagram post on June 15.
He also highlighted challenges in tourism, such as safety concerns at several destinations and layoffs in the hospitality industry.
While the Bali administration has long pushed to develop agriculture in the island province, it still struggles to strike a balance between agriculture and tourism.
Water scarcity
A.A. Gede Agung Wedhatama, founder of Cool Young Farmers (PMK), a local agriculture community, has been promoting a 'return to natural farming' since 2013, encouraging young Balinese to try their hand at tech-based organic farming.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Thursday, Agung expressed his optimism about the sector's growth, pointing to Bali's vast untapped potential amid increasing global demand for tropical fruits and other agricultural commodities.
He said the smart farming practices incorporating digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) adopted by Cool Young Farmers had helped reduce production costs by up to 70 percent.
However, Agung noted that the province's water crisis, worsened by unchecked tourism development, posed a problem for farmers.
'Our current biggest challenge in Bali is land conversion. So when a villa or any building cuts off the flow of water, it leads to a water shortage that impacts our farms downstream,' he said.
A number of participants engaging in a hands-on agriculture activity facilitated by Cool Young Farmer (Petani Muda Keren) community based in Bali. - Photo: AA Gede Agung Wedhatama
Kadek Kamardiyana, founder of community-led Mai Organic Farm Bali, voiced a similar concern, saying that the widespread development of hotels and other types of tourist accommodation on what was once agricultural land had led to high water demand and waste production and put a strain on Bali's irrigation infrastructure.
He added that 'economic interests' had undermined the functioning of Bali's traditional irrigation system called subak, inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage in 2012, highlighting the persistent challenge of supplying water from various sources to residential areas and hotels while maintaining the subak system.
The local people who managed 'subak often have to work throughout the night to secure water' during the dry season, Kadek told the Post on Monday.
During the rainy season when water was abundant, he continued, waste often flowed into the irrigation system and contaminated the agricultural supply, while pests had become an acute problem in certain areas.
Slow farmer regeneration
Agung provides training and agribusiness workshops through PMK to engage with the younger generation, but has observed waning interest in agriculture among Balinese youth, who often find it hard to resist the lure of earning a quick buck through tourism.
'There was a surge of interest in agriculture among young people during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now, as tourism is rebounding, it has reemerged as a challenge for us. In Bali, the key issue is how we can integrate agriculture and tourism,' he said.
Agung has therefore adapted to include a focus on empowering young people to farm and maintain their own land on a vision to make "farmers a subject, no longer an object, of tourism".
'We are currently developing an agriculture platform that can also produce tourism as a bonus,' he said.
But some Balinese youths who stand to inherit agricultural land are pessimistic about their prospects in the sector.
Anggara, a 24-year-old resident of Tabanan, told the Post on Monday that he had little interest in making his living as a farmer in Bali, as this required large investment.
Other considerations he mentioned included physical readiness to effectively manage a farm, potential downsides from climate change, water scarcity as well as certain aspects of agricultural production he deemed were financially unsustainable in the long run.
'Based on my father's experience, the selling price is not worth the [production cost],' Anggara said.
He also pointed to the long-standing issue of farmers' lacking direct market access that led to their reliance on middlemen, who often pushed down prices.
Bradnyana, a 33-year-old rural resident of Bali who gardens in his spare time, also does not see farming ever becoming his primary source of income.
'Becoming a promising farmer requires an ideal size of agricultural land, and farmers must utilise modern technology to increase production,' he told the Post on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Kadek has also noticed a lack of interest among youths in Gianyar where Mai Organic Farm operates, saying the regency did not have sufficient land for agriculture to sustain the local economy as a primary sector.
In contrast, tourism has been growing rapidly in the regency, where agricultural land is being increasingly converted to support tourism infrastructure and activities.
However, Kadek views that growth as a 'bonus' for Mai Organic Farm, which focuses on 'regenerative agriculture' by offering tourists an experience at local organic farms as a way to leverage the tourism boom to boost the local economy.
'Our farmers [in Gianyar] don't have much land. It would be difficult if we relied solely on agricultural output. We need creative ideas to combine agriculture, environment, culture and tourism,' he said. - The Jakarta Post/ANN