Farmer of Center Sulawesi preserving Subak

Many people from Bali have migrated to Sulawesi since decades ago. Some have lived there for twenty years, thirty years and some have been more than forty years. They include successful transmigrants, as evidenced by the improved economy, good owned homes, and frequent return trips to Bali by plane.

Bali transmigrant sites in Sulawesi are scattered in various places. Incidentally, the group of farmers that I visited is located in the village of West Tolae, Torue District, Parigi Moutong Regency, Central Sulawesi Province. The Farmers Group in West Tolae Village is called the Roaue Farmers Group. Roa means friend and ue means water, the free translation is a group of farmers who are friends with water or who manage water or groups of farmers who use water. The head of the group was named Wayan Sunanta with a Field Agricultural Extension Officer  named Wayan Netera.

The group consisted of 7 Subaks, namely: Tumpang Sari Subak, United Development Subak, Sumber Harapan subak, Bukit Sari Subak, Sari Tani Subak, Prosperous Subak Tani and Bina Harapan Subak. Subak already has a Bedugul Temple with a Klian Bedugul named I Made Suwendra. The duty of Klian Bedugul is to carry out the aci and to determine the planting patterns. Odalan at Bedugul Temple every six months on Sukra Uumanis, wuku Klawu.

The seven subaks have 175 members (90% happen to be Hindus) with an area of ​​416 ha. All Subaks receive water from the Torue Dam (Torue irrigation area) which in total irrigates an area of ​​4,000 ha. The area of ​​rice field ownership for each farming family is 2 - 2.5 ha. Rice planting is carried out using the Tabela (Direct Seed Distribution) system, with 5 planting times in 2 years. The first growing season is December-January and the second planting season is May - June. The rice planted was superior varieties Cigelis (60%) and Mikongga (40%) and later planted with superior varieties Impari 13. Planting palawija had never been. Fertilizers used are Urea, TSP, KCl, NPK Plus and organic fertilizer. Water supply is sufficient throughout the year. Rice yield 2 - 3.5 tons of rice / ha. Transmigrant farmers also have cocoa and coconut plantations.

Interestingly Klian Subak and staf want to learn to explore Subak in Bali and want to participate in preserving Subak. This is a sign that Bali is increasingly trusted as a center for learning subak both for Bali alone, nationally and internationally.