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Wet rice cultivation in Indonesia Chapter six
6.4 Non-traditional wet rice cultivation
The data in this paragraph comes from the village of Cisarua, just south of the village of
Ciptarasa. From Cisarua to Ciptarasa it is a steep walk of twenty minutes on a small stony
track through a landscape of sawahs. Interesting to note is that there are non-traditional
sawahs in the beginning of the walk, and traditional sawahs at the end of the walk. In this
paragraph, we will focus on the phases within non-traditional wet rice cultivation.
6.4.1 Non-traditional wet rice cultivation – planning
The non-traditional form of wet rice cultivation can start any time of the year 44 . However,
cultivation is easier in the wet season compared to cultivation in the dry season. During the
research, a new planting cycle had started in November 2005. We will use this as a starting
point for our analysis. The cycle of the non-traditional system implies four months of
cultivation, a recovering period of one month and then again four months of cultivation. This
implies approximately two harvests per year.
Farmers in the same area that use irrigation water from the same source, construct a
plan for equal allocation of water, together with the RT 45 . This takes place a couple of weeks
before the sowing phase starts. Because they use the system year round, there is
continuous contact between the farmers in relation to the allocation of irrigation water. If
farmers cannot solve a dispute on irrigation water, the RT will negotiate, sometimes together
with the head of the village. Decisions on the timing of sowing, the varieties to use, and the
timing of harvesting is a private matter.
6.4.2 Non-traditional wet rice cultivation – ploughing
For this analysis, the cultivation of fields starts in November, with ploughing the dry sawah.
Farmers of the non-traditional system cannot use their empty sawah for fish breeding, since
there is not enough time in between the cycles. Those farmers who want to cultivate fish
have to create a separate pond for this. During the preparation period, farmers have to
check the condition of the irrigation systems and do reparations when necessary.
Ploughing a non-traditional sawah is essentially the same as the two phases of
ploughing within a traditional sawah. The remains of the rice plants (tunggul jarami) of the
last harvest, together with the weed in and around the sawah are serving as a natural
fertiliser. Kerbaus drag the one tooth plough in the first phase, and labourers work in those
areas where the animals cannot come. The farmers start irrigating their fields after this
phase, until five centimetres of water. The second phase of ploughing takes place with nine
teeth plough, in order to level the field and mix the water, with the soil and the weed 46 .
6.4.3 Non-traditional wet rice cultivation – sowing
Before sowing can start – somewhere in the month of November in this case – the farmer
has to level the sawah with the garok. After that, the family of the farmer chooses an area of
the sawah to serve as pabinihan. This is the compact area where the paddy grows for the
first month.
The paddy seed comes from the grains of the last harvest, so farmers do not have to
buy this, unless they want to try a new variety 47 . Farmers of non-traditional wet rice
cultivation can use genetically modified varieties of rice (High Yielding Varieties). However,
they can also use traditional rice varieties from the Kasepuhan. Moreover, both Kasepuhan
as non-Kasepuhan respondents claim that the quality of traditional varieties is higher than
44
Appendix 9 includes an overview of the planting cycles in traditional and non-traditional cultivation.
45
Normally an official called ulu-ulu is involved in irrigation manners. However, respondents did not
mention such an official during the interviews.
46
The costs of labour can be found in section 6.3.2.
47
See appendix 8 for a list of rice varieties.
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