Think of Bali and what springs to mind? Temples, gamelans and terraces of rice rippling in the breeze. Young rice in that distinctive shade of green, cooling the eye. Ripe rice, heavy heads drooping with grain, destined for Indonesia’s bottomless rice bowls.
The Balinese have cultivated rice for over a thousand years. Until about 50 years ago they used leaves, rice stalks and animal manures to fertilize their crops. Then in the 1960s food security -- ensuring sustainable food production for all -- became an urgent priority to feed the country’s then-burgeoning population. The Green Revolution began about 1965 with the introduction of hybrid seed stock and a cocktail of chemical fertilizers.
Initial results were spectacular, as the rice instantly responded to the chemicals (like snorting cocaine, one grower explained to me -- the effect is dramatic, but temporary). Briefly, Indonesia became a leading rice producer and even became self sufficient for a short period after 1984. In 1986 a supra-intensification system was introduced using a limited variety of seeds, and more chemical fertilizers and pesticides. As the use of animal manures and organic composts stopped, so did the slow, continual enrichment of the soil. Rice quality and yield declined as populations grew. Soon farmers began to need more and more chemicals to get the same yield, and the economic returns of growing rice with artificial inputs started to drop. Productivity leveled off, became stagnant and in some places went into decline. It became evident that rice production was failing to keep pace with demand.
The use of chemicals was also upsetting the ecological balance in irrigated rice fields. Biodiversity disappeared. “Naturally fertilized rice fields are home to snakes, eels, frogs, fish sometimes, ducks seasonally, dragonflies, lightning bugs and a regular zoo of insects,” says Gove du Puy of IDEP. “All of these animals contribute to the health of soil & water systems which then produces high rice yields.”
Indonesia’s Research Institute for Rice (Agency for Agricultural Research and Development) realized that its production strategy needed to change. In 1997, the Agency saw a presentation on the System of Rice Intensification (http://ciifad.cornell.edu.sri) by Professor Norman Uphoff in Bogor, and after evaluating and adapting the system began to test it in 8 provinces under the name of Integrated Crop Management (ICM).
I recently visited an ICM pilot site in Tabanan, where a group of knowledgeable, committed Agency officers showed us around. Pak Agus explained that contemporary rice cultivation in Indonesia includes practices such as transplanting 21 day-old seedlings, three per hill, with an application of N-P-K fertilizer in a flooded field. In the ICM system, a single seedling is transplanted at 15 days with organic compost and a reduced amount of urea (nitrogen) fertilizer. Instead of planting densely, it’s planted in twin rows with 50 cm of space between the rows, which run in an east/west direction to take advantage of maximum solar exposure. Because the rice is planted farther apart is has more room to grow and more access to sunlight and soil nutrients. Without competition for light and nutrients, a single seedling can produce more rice than three crowded seedlings.
I was surprised to learn that rice is not by nature an aquatic plant. Although it can survive with its roots continually submerged, it doesn’t really thrive. Roots need at least periodic contact with oxygen for the plant to reach its full potential. So ICM rice fields are flooded for two days, then allowed to dry right out until the earth cracks before being irrigated again, allowing air to reach the roots and encouraging greater biodiversity in the soil. When the soil isn’t saturated, the roots grow longer to seek out water, making the plant stronger. The larger root systems of the rice plants may enhance micronutrient content (this has not yet been tested).
In the two growing seasons that this project has been running, yield has risen from 6 to 8.5 tons per hectare, an increase of 35 – 40%. Add to this the savings in seed, reduction in water use and chemical inputs, and the ICM system looks pretty good. It does require more labour – the seedlings are planted more carefully, and the rice is weeded by hand or with a simple tool at least twice. But each weeding can enhance yields by between one and two tons per hectare by reducing competition for nutrients while at the same time aerating the soil.
We wandered through the tidy fields, admiring the heavy crops around us. One plot featured Bali rice, a variety about which the growers had mixed feelings. Bali rice is not responsive to chemical urea, it seems. On the other hand, it’s the only variety that attracts birds. The Agency has developed over 200 varieties of rice, but the consensus was that Bali rice remained the tastiest for both birds and people.
Pak Agus explained to me that he would soon be leaving for Aceh, where a program was being planned to rehabilitate surviving rice fields in the tsunami zone with saline-resistant varieties such as lalan and banyuasin, using the ICM system. There was also a strategy to introduce terracing so rice could be grown in the hills.
The System of Rice Intensification, from which the ICM system is adapted, endorses the use of animal manure and compost instead of chemical inputs. In view of the profitability of petrochemical products, this is a sensitive subject in Indonesia. But our guides agreed that building up the soil with natural organics would in time eliminate the requirement for artificial urea. Ibu Kartini, perhaps Bali’s greatest organic champion, has a test plot here using cow manure and worm castings instead of urea.
Oded, the only real farmer in our group, is already using a similar system on his organic rice and vegetable farm in Ubud. A group of neighbouring farmers cultivate organic brown rice under his guidance. Oded believes he’s the only producer of organic brown rice in Bali, and every crop is completely sold even before it’s harvested. He welcomesvisitors to his model farm. Please call 972087 for an appointment.
I wasn’t the only visitor to be inspired by what I saw in Tabanan. As Nyoman drove home he said thoughtfully, “I think I’ll try that on a corner of our land.” And I already have visions of robust rice plants replacing the flowers that now line my garden path.
