Subak, an Agriculture Essential

Rice is a staple food for most of Balinese and Indonesian, almost no food in
the island served without rice. It is also seen as the gift from God
through Goddess of Rice, Ida Bhatari Sri. Every Wednesday that falls on the
twenty-eighth weeks of Balinese calendar is a special devotion day for Dewi
Sri.

Apart from the dense of urban population and the gleam of touristic areas in
South of Bali, Balinese is considered as one of the most productive rice
growers in the country. The farming practice is the result of cultural exchange
between local and other ethnics that have inhabited the island over the past
centuries. Another secret for the excellence of Bali in producing high quality of
rice is on the ancient irrigation system to water their rice fields, called Subak.
Guided by the religious and cultural values; combined with the complex
engineering and social principles – Subak is now one of the UNESCO World
Heritage cultural landscapes.

Every after-dawn the farmers leave their house to the fields, accompanied by
flocks of ducks that are brought to bathe and feed all day in the flooded
paddies. The cascading formation of rice terraces is one of the keys to
cultivate rice fields in high-steep area like slopes of mountains. Each plot of
rice field called sawah is irrigated and contained by dikes of black earth, one
flowing into the next as in a rhythmic pattern on waters glides on the bamboo
sleeves. Every farmer usually owns one or more sawah, and they must join
a subak community, an agricultural society that controls the distribution of
irrigation water to its members.

Just like the other Balinese associations, the spirit of the subak is communal.
All members abide by the same rules with each allotted work concerning the
amount of water he receives. Subak helps the small agriculturalists by
assuring them of water, guard irrigation channels against strangers diverting
the water for their use, repair any damages in the dikes, and organize
banquets at a propitious time, such as the completion of a harvest. At least
once a month a general meeting is held in the small temple at the middle of
the rice fields dedicated to the agricultural deities. Subak associations are
essential to the prosperity of the Balinese people. The mountainous nature of
the land makes irrigation extremely difficult. Only through this full cooperation
among neighbouring farmers have the Balinese become famed as the most
efficient rice growers in the archipelago. Before the fields are planted,
offerings are made to gain the goodwill of deities who provide water and
favourable conditions for a successful harvest.

The headwaters in the island’s irrigations system are lake temples dedicated
to the goddess of the water, Ida Bethari Danu (Pura Ulun Danu Bratan
and Pura Ulun Danu Batur). The Balinese believe that water is a divine gift.
Everything that will be done in the fields are set by the temple priests,
including when to start planting the seeds, harvesting, and the schedule for
water allocation.