Indonesian Field Study
J U L Y - 1 9 9 7

Abstract and introduction

The study of group 5 were conducted in three stages; first a city survey of Jakarta; secondly a field study of Badra, a small village in the Lamanjang area north of Pangalengan; and thirdly a study of the water management in Bandung, the regional capital of western Java.

The city survey of Jakarta was divided into three sections. First we visited a suburb area of Jakarta where we looked at regional differences in socio-economic relations between different residential areas. Secondly we attended a lecture on the development of Jakarta at the University of Indonesia, conducted by Prof. I Made Sandy. And thirdly we went on a one-day filed excursion through the city of Jakarta. However the third stage of our surveying were hampered by lack of observance and also lack of student participation in the final construction of our field report. We have however tried to make up for this by drawing upon the literature examined before departure for Indonesia.

The conclusion we have been able to make, through the surveying of Jakarta, has mainly been on social indifferences and the structural make up of Jakarta.

The field study of Badra was done over a period of four days, during which we managed to do a series of interviews with the inhabitant’s as well as a more informal survey of the landscape as well as observing the land use and agricultural techniques applied by the farmers here.

Two factors became the most striking to us, namely the choice of rice production over other types of crops, and the importance of secondary income (non-farming income). These two factors have become a central focal point of our analysis and conclusion. Both in terms of their economic and their environmental significance.

Throughout our studies in Indonesia we noticed the existence of great environmental problems, mainly the once stemming from the agricultural sector, so we choose to investigate the water management in Bandung, as our final mini project. For this we decided to investigate an area north of Bandung, in which two very different socio-economic groups lived. We then visited the two different water sources from which the two different groups got their water supply. One was a water treatment plant (water supply for the rich) and the other was a mountain spring (water supply for the poor).

We could conclude that the water received by the poorer people caused a range of decease’s, while the water received by the wealthier people, and coming from the water treatment plant, was cleaner, and therefore no real health problem could be found.

During our stay in Jakarta we performed an urban study, divided into three sections. Firstly we visited a Kampung, secondly we attended a lecture on Jakarta’s development at University of Indonesia, and thirdly we went on a day trip to the different parts of Jakarta. Beforehand we had done a theoretical study of the development of Jakarta through literature on the subject.

The trip to the Kampung can be seen as an informal surveying of part of Jakarta to analyse contrasts in socio-economic characteristics and general infrastructure.

We will start out with, in brief, to describe the structural development of Jakarta, as well as its make up. We will also try to point out a few ways in which the development of Jakarta has effected the rest of Indonesia.

Jakarta is located on the alluvial plains bordering the Java Sea, an originally swampy area.

"Settlements spread south by stages from the original river-mouth site, eventually reaching undulating land near the southern fringe of the present DKI" (Hall Hill, p.234, Compendium).

In the above-mentioned process Jakarta became centreless and with no overall shapes.

The Dutch colonists constructed Jakarta as their central entrance to Java, and was situated in a way where it was surrounded by villages (or Kampungs), so as to obtain a supply of food and other necessities (see the figure below).

The present day development of Jakarta, by filling out the open land with new constructions, both industry (secondary and tertiary) and housing blocks, has maintained, in a strong sense, the lack of centre and shape. In the conclusion we will use our surveying in connection with this development, to show the truth of the above.

"Indeed, in the eyes of many Indonesians, it is not viewed as a region (daerah) but as the centre (pusat), an opposed concept." (Hall Hill, p.233, Compendium).

What is being referred to above are of course Jakarta, the growing capital and economic centre of Indonesia. Jakarta has the highest per capita income throughout all of Indonesia, and as so a lot of people, especially the younger generation, is drawn to this growing metropolis in the search of work and a better livelihood. Despite the high per capita income, there exists a large gap between rich and poor in Jakarta. However DKI Jakarta might register less inequality than some other provinces, but mainly because the lack of the rural-urban differential, that is the main source of inequality in most third world countries (Hall Hill, p.233, Compendium).

As mentioned above, one for us most interesting effect Jakarta has, is its effect as a drawing magnet to the rural population of Indonesia, and especially Java. Apart from the extensive in-migration to DKI Jakarta, there is also the circular, or seasonal, migration. The circular migrants have a variety of forms, some commuting back to their villages for the weekend, some only returning for the harvest and some again returning one out of four weeks. Though such circular migration is very common in most third world countries, it seems to have developed into something extraordinary in Jakarta and west Java (Hall Hill, p.236, Compendium).

On day one after arrival we visited a Kampung, together with its surrounding city parts. Firstly we visited a middle class area located right next to the Kampung itself, and here we started out by visiting a small furniture industry. The owner’s house was in the richer section of town, and behind that was his furniture workshop backing onto an old Kampung (swallowed up by the city). His furniture was made for export to western countries, and the labour he used was local, all though some had moved to Jakarta to work there, but not as a form of temporary migration. The workers all lived in the Kampung, and the working conditions seemed poor.

Block E consisted of 150 families, many of which travelled at least 25 – 30 km pr. day. The people living in block E were employed as lawyers, businessmen and civil servants. Foreign firms employ a large number of the residents in this area. All houses were privately owned. Security was evident and there was a highly structured community organisation within. The community organisation/council was made up by a group of residents in the area, and its purpose was to provide a rage of services to the community funded by the residents. Two services was apparent, one was the disposal of garbage, and the other the employment of a security staff. The water quality in the area was poor (high iron content), but they could afford to buy bottled supplies. They had an elementary school in the area, however the children were sent further away to secondary, and private school. This residential area was very religiously diverse, and religion had no real meaning or effect on the community effort. Religion here was a private matter.

Secondly we visited a lower class Kampung next to block E. Generally residents here had informal jobs such as builders, fruit merchants, salesmen/women. All the residents in this area were Muslim, so many of the community activities had religion as its focal point. All though a lower class area the income was situated at a level spinning from 150.000 rp pr. month to 300.000 rp pr. month, which is quite a lot when compared with the living standards in the village we came to study later on (see chapter on study in Lamanjang). The monthly rent in this area was 60.000 rp pr. month for a small two room house, constructed with poor building material, compared to the houses in Block E, and really very basic. This tells us two things; firstly that they are poor compared to the citizens of block E and; secondly that living accommodations in Jakarta is most expensive. It is important however to point out that this somewhat poor neighbourhood came no way near being a chanty town, because they had electricity and comigated iron roofs etc. The residents here use groundwater supply. The education in the Kampung was good, and the children could both read and write, and we even found a few that could speak English.

In the Kampung there was also a bus depot, where the busses could get repaired. This provided most of the employment for the residents (15.000 rp pr. day salary) in the Kampung, those who did not work with informal services. The depot was rented and not privately owned.

A lot of the people living in the Kampung had migrated in from elsewhere in Indonesia.

Thirdly we visited an estate of even greater wealth than Block E. The estate was an example of a very wealthy upper class area. Living standards were very high and so was security, and the entire estate was surrounded by a high wall, and a security pass was needed to enter the premises. We did not make contact here with any of the residents, unlike in the two other residential parts we had visited, and this due to a tight schedule. However the mere contrast between the three areas was striking.

When examining the area, with a birds eye view, one recognises the differences in structure between the three areas we visited, which we have tried to sketch on the previous page.

It is clear, from both reading the literature, and surveying the area, to see how Jakarta has become somewhat shapeless and centreless with the ad-hoc planned infrastructure we saw. A class-system was evident from the different section living areas we saw while surveying. Yet everybody was fairly well educated, even in the Kampung. Also the family sizes were small, in most cases no more than 3 children, which is relatively small compared to other Asian countries. It is clear to see from this, that Soehartos New Order regime had had a fair amount of success, at least throughout Jakarta.

It was evident that the area had developed as part of the growth of Jakarta as an economic centre. Migrants were diverse in their ethnic and regional origins, all that all had gone there to improve their job opportunities, and through that their livelihood standards. Jakarta is, and this with no doubt in mind, a true melting-pot region.

The climate of west Java is governed by the oscillations of air masses within the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITZ). The rainfall differs seasonable in different parts of Java, thus creating a higher temperature and humidity difference between night and day, compared to an annual difference.

According to figures from The Ecology of Java and Bali, Pengalengan is situated in an area where the number of dry months is 3 – 5. We found however that 4 month was more precise in our study area.

The annual rainfall in and around Pangalengan is 4000-5000 mm pr. year.

Bandung is located at an altitude of 700 m above sea level, and journeying from Bandung to Pangalengan one travels upward to an altitude about 2500 m. The first part of the journey constituted a very flat area, a plateau. The last part of journey was a steep climb into the city of Pangalengan, which clearly had a gradual change in landscape, from wide stretched rice paddies throughout the plateau, to rice terracing, and finally vegetable farming and tea plantations.

The aim of our research work in the mountain villages, south of Bandung City, was principally to investigate livelihood strategies and the complex culture of the native Sundanese including the human/ environment relationship. We set out to conduct fieldwork that described and analysed their agricultural systems, based on our knowledge from the background reading and lectures. Overall the five groups studied a variety of agricultural systems situated at different altitudes up the mountain in the Pangalengan district. Our group chose to research a Kampung whose main crop was rice and was situated at the lowest altitude nearer to Bandung. Lamajang Kampung/desa covers an area of 2516.096 hectares, with a population of 7687 (2216 families).

We chose this particular village because of its location. By observing a map over the Bandjaran area, and by following the road descending from Pangalengan, we simply chose the first village along side the road that was located in a rice farming area. Thus choosing a village, which would grow rice during the wet season, and then change to other crops during the dry season.

Day 1: General assessment of all of Lamajang Kampung. Observational notes were completed to result in a choice of specific sector (RW) which we could work in, for more detailed surveying. Meeting with the Kepala Desa and general collection of information for the whole kampung in the form of reports, compiled by local authorities for the Government.

We made a rough land survey (inc. Counting buildings and crop types etc.) of RW 2, named Badra to develop some more specific plans for researching over the following days e.g.

Initial sketch maps were used to decide the best position of a transect.

An initial informal interview was held with the Ketua (head of RW). The evening was spent developing our questionnaires and interview list.

Day 2: First surveys were conducted. Firstly as a group we formally interviewed the Ketua and he gave us a guided tour of both RT 1 and 2.

Secondly we worked in smaller groups: 1) Land surveying and 2)Formal interviewing in both RTs: A series of two day interviews were begun in the RW cover the broad tropics of: culture;employment; agricultural practises; and land use. Two interviews (usually a whole family Would contribute, not just one member!). Were chosen at random covering lower, middle and rich income wealth. The aim of these interviews was to inform us of their community structure, the types of employment, the land tenure, their general rituals, educational standards, gender roles, wealth distribution etc. We actually gained a lot more vital information and statistics than was initially expected. In total 10 interviews were completed (excluding informal interviews with farmers and the Ketua).

A detailed map was started showing land use of RT 1 and 2 Field profiles were drawn and assessments were made about crops and the agricultural practises and any effects human influence has had on the environment e.g. erosion and general soil degradation. Observational notes, photographs and measurements using, in some cases improvised equipment, was used to collect evidence (see below for sketches of improvised equipment).

Day 3: The village interviews and land surveying from day 2 were all continued. Furthermore, we conducted a few homegarden surveys though questioning villagers and drawing layouts.

Day 4: A transect of the whole of RT1 was completed from the bottom to top boundary. This gave us a more accurate assessment of the: overall land use; field/crop patterns; distribution etc. (to compliment the map). We improvised, making equipment from bamboo sticks and string (initially measured out using a measuring tape), and a Compass.

All village interviews were completed in our chosen series of wealth distribution. Formal interviews were conducted with the farmers out in the farmers out in the fields as well to gain information about agricultural practise. A further map was drawn depicting the layout of the centre of RW 2.

Throughout day 1 and day 2 we conducted our interviews. Our interview form was semi structured. We divided the interviews into four categories, cultural aspects, farming systems, land use/cover and resource management. The diagram below shows an outline of the questions divided into the four categories.

The land use survey was done in a two-way manner, systematic through a measured transect, and non-systematic through rough observations and mapping (complimented with a rough transect), done by

walking through the landscape and around the field edges.

The transect was done with the use of two simple tools made by our selves using a measuring tape, a string and sticks of bamboo (see sketch on previous page) together with a compass.

We started making the transect at river level, where we with the help of a compass decided on a baring, enabling us to walk the transect in a straight line. The baring was chosen in a manner, which enabled us to get the most diverse range of crops within the frame of the transect. Making of the transect then commenced.

With the use of a 5-m. string and two 2-m. bamboo sticks mark marked for every 20 cm in height. We were then able to measure both height and distance as we went uphill from the river.

For the purpose of making a map of the village area, we used a measuring triangle, consisting of three pieces of bamboo stick, which was 1,5 m at ground level (see sketch below).

We then measured a few of the fields to make our mapping efforts more precise, all though we were not able to measure all the fields, and therefor it is still mainly a representation of eye measuring.

Together with the transect and these mapping and measuring efforts we could, in combination with our interviewing, get an idea of the land use/cover. This way our land use observations became complimentary to the land use section of our questionnaire.

Throughout Indonesia the New Order channelled substantial development funds through new village-level institutions and programs. LKMD (Lembaga Ketahanan Masyarakat Desa) and LMD (on diagram) are one example, which are village committees. The former is a meeting of heads in one RW, which we witnessed on our first day. LKMD stands for department of defence and the committee of people (in rough translation) and occurs twice a month between the Ketua and the head of the men from each of the RT´s. No women are allowed, but they do have their own committee, whereby they collect money from each household to give financial aid to the poorest in the RW. The LKMD functions as a decision making authority for all areas distribution of funds effecting village livelihood e.g. education, agricultural needs, ceremonies (e.g. Muslim fasting in Lamajang) and the general community support.

"Village government was transformed by the village Law of 1979, implemented gradually through the 1980´s. This stipulated the uniform formation of villages, called either Desa or Kelurahan, headed respectively by kepala desa and Lurah. Below that level village hamlets were to be called dusun." (Guiness/Hill, 1994)

At first there was considerable resentment (e.g. in Bali and Sumatra) as they implemented Javanese terms i.e. des and dusun, to define administrative units of local society. The imposition of central authority to appoint leaders to the units proved more dramatic a transformation from traditional leadership. Village and hamlet communities were, and still are, able to nominate individuals to fill such positions, but the local subdistrict head screens potential candidates, calls for the elimination of those considered to independent, and appoints the leader from two nominations finally submitted to him. The leader of a kelurahan (higher than desa), are salaried civil servants, thus ensuring their primary loyalties are to the central and regional government and not to their own electorate. Their position is enforced by their control, inconsultation with an advisory council of village elite (LKMD), of all development funds channelled to the village.

In RW2 there were three RT´s. There were no exact figures for the total amount of people in this Rw, only families which are as follows:

RT1 (called Badra, the same name as RW): 17 families

RT2 (also called Badra): 46 families

RT3 (called Cibana): 38 families.

One average there are four people in each family. RT 1 and 2 were next to each other and formed the centre of RW2, whereas Cibana was near the river, but had a population similar to the combined of RT 1 and 2.

We were given the figures for the amount of people able to vote in each RT (N.B. the voting age is 17+), RT1: 40 people, RT2: 78 people and RT3: 101 people. Men and women can vote in elections, but only men can be appointed. You have to be married if you are a woman though. There were two ketuas in RW2. Each ketua holds the position for three years at a time, rotating with other ketua on this cycle.

The Village is 11 km. from Pengalengan, and the whole area is 2516.096 ha. In all there are 2216 villages and about 7687 people living here.

The area is devoted into:

5 ha. Fishponds

21600 ha cattle

18 ha horses

0,25 ha offices and

5 ha schools

There are 56 teachers in the area and 0 doctors. But we were "lucky" to have a medicineman.

We decided to work in RT1 and RT2 because, as we wrote before, they formed the centre of RW2 and were next to each other. RW2 is 13 years old. All the villagers are Muslims and there had been no transmigration.

We interviewed 8 people about the family structure, expenditure, land size etc. We have organised the answers into a table to make the comparison easier. The idea is to divide the interviewed villagers into different economical classes.

It was difficult to get to talk with the poorest people, they were more shy and probably embarrassed to talk to foreigners like us. It was much easier to get to talk to the better-educated and wealthy families, there were also more cowries about our country and us. Normally it is the males, who do the talking in the family but because of the "Big Fishing-day", we talked mostly with the women. It means that we maybe haven’t got all the right information about income and expenditure.

The Lamajang village area had a welfare system of their own, it was not a government-required system, but instead it was a religious based welfare system. Twice every year the rich villagers collected money and crops (mainly rice) for the poorer villagers and this according to Muslim law.

Our study of the agricultural system in and around our village started already when decenting into the Lamajang area on the first day. Walking down the mountain slope we could see how the crop cover gradually changed. One has to bare in mind that what we could see, was only a small representation of crops grown, compared to what one would be able to see during a full decent from Pengalengan and downward.

The crops we noted were the following:

• potatoes
• rice
• maize
• onions (red)
• chilli, both red and green

The soil in the area is rich, due to the volcanic activity through out its history. As a result of this the soil is red in colour, and despite the fact that we were there in the dry season, the soil was very moist, more so the further we went down the slope. By looking at the following rough transect, you can get an idea of which crops were grown where down the slope.

This variation of food crops we here have sketched can only be said to give a rough idea of the distribution of crops at different altitudes. We noticed that rice, all though to be found at lower altitude, placement of the Sawah (rice fields) was located in the central and north part of the village area. The crops grown are not only grown accordingly to altitude and climate, but also accordingly to village structures. When we say village structure, we mean placement of water supply and accessibility.

The next thing we saw, was how the individual fields were formed. We noticed that both the onion fields and the chilli fields had either onion or spinach grown around the edges (especially spinach), also we noticed that the maize was grown on rather steep slope. Also runner beans are to be found on the edges of onion fields in the places with more dry soil.

Close to the housing were to be found banana trees and some times a fishpond.

The village of Badra grew four types of primary, or cash crops. The four were rice, onions, chilli and maize. Rice has a 4-month growing season, which is equivalent to half the rainy season, hence enabling the farmers to harvest rice twice annually. The large amount of water needed for growing rice, disable the villagers from growing rice on all their land during the dry season. Before planting the rice, the farmer has to get the seedlings going in a smaller plot of land. The rice seedlings are planted very close to the housing in small fields, and after a period of 15 days the seedlings are transplanted into the actual rice paddies. It is very easy to recognise these seedling plots, since the colour is bright green.

The chilli is grown in the late rainy season, and some of it is grown in the Kabun (mixed cropping) together with onion, not in the Sawah.

The onion is grown in the rice paddies (Sawah) during the dry season, making it a seasonal cropping system (or relay cropping system), with a shift between rice and onion as the two most common crops. Spinach is grown on the edge of these onion fields.

Maize is grown mainly in the upland during the dry season, though in some areas it is grown perennial.

October June September

Rice is grown in a maximum altitude of 2500 m above sea level (The Ecology of Java and Bali, Compendium). The Lamajang area is situated at an altitude around 1100 m, which means that rice can be grown at any level within the Badra village area. The diagram above however does not show that they actually have a system of perennial mixed cropping in the upper parts of the village area. The mixed cropping system consists chilli and maize, and is grown on the sloping cropland (see the transect in the farming systems chapter).

The homegardens constitute the secondary agricultural activity of Badra. The homegarden is made up of crops/livestock which primarily is for the family’s own consumption.

In Badra most everybody had a few banana trees, and a few families (the wealthier) had a fishpond. The fish that goes into the fishponds is caught by the nearby waterplant. The fee for fishing at the waterplant, which consisted of a sort of put and take system, was 20.000 rp pr. Month. This would explain the reason why only the wealthier families could afford the maintenance of fishponds. Every Sunday the village men would go to the waterplant a collect fish for their ponds.

During periods of low harvest output and consequently a lower income, they would sell some or all of the fish they had in their ponds, so to obtain an income to make up for the losses from the poor harvest.

For cooking and heating the families collect firewood in nearby forest area. Weather or not there are any laws, or restrictions, on the collection of firewood from the forest area we were not informed about.

Also a variety of other vegetables was grown, such as cassava, oranges, star fruit, pumpkin and talas (root vegetable), but not as extensively as banana.

Agricultural systems

The different signatures:

Onion Rice Spinach Stabilising veg. Houses Fish pond Maize Chilli

We will use the above transect to describe the farming system, that is, how and where they grow the different crops according to the location of water, the contours of the landscape and the seasonal variation. Rice is the predominant crop during the wet season, and can be found close to the water channel and downwards towards the river in the tableland (tableland = terracing). During the dry season most of the rice is substituted with onion, with spinach and beans around the edges to make full use of the land. On the slopes they have maize and chilli in a mixed cropping pattern.

In the village they have a few heads of buffalo used for ploughing the rice fields. The ploughing of the irrigated rice field, or sawah, serves to change the inundated soil into mud (The Ecology of Java and Bali, p.561). We also came across another tool used in the rice field, however we do not know the exact name for this tool, but a sketch can be viewed below, and it is very similar to a rake. This rake shaped tool was

used to mark the lines that make up the pattern according to which the rice seedlings are planted. The tool, when used on harder soils, is weighted down by a few stones. The tool is only used on west Java.

Tilling the soil in the rice fields also reduce percolation of water through the soil, which increases the efficiency of water channelled onto or otherwise arriving in the field, while at the same time improving the soil conditions (The Ecology of Java and Bali, p.561).

Together with the ploughing and raking, they also used a hoe for tilling the soil, since ploughing by the use of buffalo was limited by the lack of heads of buffalo. They also had a small hand held tool for weed removal, they used both in the sawah and the perennial mixed cropping field further up the slope.

The farming work is divided into female and male routines. The men plough and till the soil, while the women plant and cut the rice, as well as remove the weed by hand. The men do the pesticide and fertiliser spraying, as well as carry the harvest in-house. A part of the rice is carried to an incinerator for shelling at a facility connected to the village.

During the harvest period it is possible to buy labour to help with the harvest. A male labourer costs 4000 rp/day, while a female labourer costs 2000 rp/day. One ¼ ha land takes 5 persons pr. day.

Already on our first decent into the Lamajang area we noticed the use of fertilisers in an onion field. Apparently fertilisers are widely used, and from talking to the farmers in Badra, we can conclude that fertilisers are used on all types of crops. It is worth noticing here that the local farmer refer to artificial fertilisers as plant medicine.

For the rice is used a fertiliser called Set A Ties (what it actually contains we could not find out), and for onion and chilli is used a fertiliser called NPK.

There is no doubt in our mind, and from observing the use of fertilisers in Badra, that the West Javanese increase in total output of rice production, all though less than the rest of Java, is due to this extensive use of fertilisers.

The farmers of Badra also use the ashes left over from the shelling of the rice. This is mainly used as a supplement to the use of artificial fertilisers.

When using fertilisers with the rice, the rice field is first drained, then sprayed, and after a period of 24 hours or so, the field is again flooded.

How extensive the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides really is, is hard to say, but given the frequency of spraying we noted, it seems to be a lot despite the topography and consequently different soil types.

The below chart shows the different crop prices, expenditures and finally nets income. All prices here are

rp pr tonne. The first crop presented in the chart is brown rice, then white rice, then onion and finally chilli.

Expenditures cover the price of labour, seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, while income is the result of price pr tonne minus expenditures pr tonne. This chart creates food for thought, but we will return to this point later in the discussion and analysis.

There is an option to buy on onion and chilli. This means that there occasionally arrives a buyer from either Jakarta or Bandung who makes a pre-order, and pre-payment, on parts of the onion and chilli harvest. The other cash crops are collected in a communal effort, and then driven to Bandung where they are sold on the markets there. We failed here to examine weather the crop prices above are the price received from the buyer that comes to Badra to purchase, or the price received at the markets in Bandung.

We should maybe add here that the crops not only are grown for the purpose of export out of the village, but also are a part of the villager’s diet. These crops here presented however, add at various degrees, to the family income. Each family grows rice for own consumption in addition to rice grown for selling.

The farmers in Badra are presently experimenting with different rice sorts. The reason for this is that they hope to increase the rice production and export, and thereby increasing the income from rice sales. However not all rice varieties are suitable for the local environment.

The water used by the village, both for irrigation and drinking, comes from springs further up the mountains. The water used by the households for cooking and drinking is separated from the water used for irrigation, or so we were told. But based on another survey, we did later on in Bandung, mountain springs sometimes start close to agricultural production itself, and thus contains a high amount of nitrates and phosphates without question.

The Indonesian government has built the irrigation system, that is, the constructed water channels located around the fields. In the village we studied the main water channel was located in the upper part of the village (see Badra village map in appendix as well as the transect). All though build by the government, it is maintained by the villagers, on a regular basis. During our visit to the village the main irrigation channel was drained, cleaned up, and then refilled. This procedure is repeated yearly during the dry season.

In our work with investigating the livelihood strategies and the complex culture of the native Sundanese including the human/ environment relationship in Lamajang we made a list of questions we think will help us to understand the life in the village. We tried to find inhabitants, who were from different social classes: poor, middle class and rich. We however ran into a problem on the second day of interviewing, which was the day the men had gone to the waterplant to fish, so we were only able to interview the women.

To understand the tables below you have to know the school-system in Indonesia, which looks like this:

School-system:

The tables show the results of our interviews:

In the table we have divided the families into classes according to a range of wealth indicators. However there a few information points that are not shown in the table, these point we wish to further expand on.

In family 1 the husband moved out of the Lamajang area in 87 to central Java. The wife believes that the husband now has a new wife, and the husband does not send money home. Her only son lives in Pangalengan and has three children of his own. His occupation we were not informed of, but he sends money to his mother, however how much we do not know.

In family 3 three of the children have gone to Malaysia for work, another of the children works as a co-driver for the main crop transport from Pangalengan to Jakarta. The last and mid child has stayed in the village to continue to farm the family land.

In family 4 the female has been married 5 times, the first husband died, and last four husbands she got divorced from.

In family 5 the oldest child (a male) works in a textile factory in Bandung, and lives with his wife’s family in Bandung and does not send any money home. The daughter lives in another village with her husband and his family. The last child is only four and therefore too young for anything.

In family 6 one child lives at home, one works in a hospital in Bandung and the last one goes to a religious school also in Bandung. The daughter who works at the hospital in Bandung sends about 100.000 rp pr. month back home to the family.

In family 7 the two daughters work in the textile industry in Bandung, one lives in Bandung but returns every third week, but the other daughter commute every day between Bandung and Lamajang. The son lives with his wife’s family in another village.

Both the poor families we interviewed were headed by old women. They do not have a husband anymore, they do not have much education, and they only have 1 child each, also they only have a small plot of land if any at all. It was very easy to see that they were poor families, the houses were also build with cheap material (in most cases the walls were made of banana palm leaves, supported by bamboo), they did not have any electricity and the toilets were placed outside. From this we can conclude that the use of building material is a clear wealth indicator, all though it does not show in the scheme we have made (the wealthier families had used clay and stone for house construction).

It was more difficult to divide the middle class from the rich class because both classes had extra jobs. The only parameter apparent through the scheme was the income so we divided the two classes into them who earned more than 400,000 rp/month (rich) and them that earned less than 400,000 rp/month (middle class).

It is normal that the younger people migrate to for example Malaysia and many of then send money back to the parents. The women stay with their parents when they get married whiles the men stay by the wives family after marriage, this is not always the case though.

To conclude in short, we can then point out a few predominant wealth indicators. In many cases what determines the household economy is not only the land size, but also secondary activity held by one or more of the family members, often through seasonable migration for industrial work, or by performing a communal job task. If a farmer is rich and owns a large amount of land he could afford employing other farmers to farm his land, and thereby giving him more time to engage in other economic sectors, and thereby enlarging his wealth potential. Thus creating a larger gap between rich and poor villagers, in a local capitalist economic structure. The number of males belonging to the household is another wealth indicator effecting the income. This we think stems from the fact that males generally are paid more for their services. This however is only of significance for the poor families with little or no land possessions. In both cases where we find the family to be poor the husband/man has died or left the household.

"All rainfed and dryland rice farmers practice different forms of multiple cropping using maize, cassava and legumes in order to maximise the productivity of the land." (Wirjahardja in The Ecology of Java and Bali, p.565).

The above statement is an almost perfect description of the village we studied. The maize is here grown in a mixed and relay cropping pattern, meaning that maize is grown mixed with chilli, both all year round, and following the wet season rice cropping. This is a very common pattern to be found since this polyculture generally result in a lower incidence of pests (Rich et al in The Ecology of Java and Bali, p.585).

In our case the rice was not the most profitable crop grown, and yet it was the primary crop throughout most of the year (wet season). Upland rice however is often the key crop in certain upland areas because it is a desired commodity, is well adapted to growth during the wet season, and can be used for variety of other functions, such as mulch to improve the soil (The Ecology of Java and Bali, p565). In Badra the above must be the case, especially give the cost benefit conditions in Figure 4. We also noted the use of ashes from the shelling of the rice, as organic fertiliser to improve the soil fertility. Another reason for the dominance of rice production in Badra can be found in the following statement:

"Rice is a status food, and to eat any other staple is regarded by some as an indication of backwardness. Since this is the prevailing view of the dominant cultural group, so rice consumption increases while consumption of other staple crops decreases, and the dependency on this single crop becomes even more marked" (The Ecology of Java and Bali, p.568).

The choice of growing onion and chilli is to be found elsewhere. The reason for this must primarily be its importance as a cash crop. It becomes clear by looking at Figure 4 that can benefit substantially to the villagers’ economy during the dry season. The reason for the relay cropping between rice and onion is not absolutely clear. The only conclusion on this matter that we can make is that the market price on onion is very high, and therefore is grown as a substitute for rice during the dry season. The mixed cropping of maize and chilli might be an important part of local pest control, where the chilli benefits the maize, however the market price on chilli, being the highest among all the primary crops, is the main focal point here, since we are not able to access the former.

The farmers in Badra, as mentioned before, experiment with different varieties of rice, so as to obtain a higher yield. It is important here to mention the effect that the Green Revolution has had on upland rice cultivation, because it adds to the understanding of some of the many problems facing upland farmers when trying to obtain a larger production output on rice. The Green Revolution did not really benefit upland production of rice, because the development of pesticides and fertilisers is very costly, and the range in topography and different soil types here to be found, requires the development of an extensive range of fertilisers and pesticides (The Ecology of Java and Bali, p.572). Thus making it harder to the upland rice farmer to increase yield.

The most important form of income in Badra village stems from cash crop production, where rice make up the primary crop, but only because it is so extensively grown throughout the wet season. However it is, as we mentioned before, far from the crop with the highest value in terms of volume, compared to both onion and chilli (we here lack the cost benefit numbers for maize). The choice of rice farming we have tried to address in the previous, and could conclude that it was not a choice based on economic advantages.

Another important factor effecting the village economy, is the existence of an option to buy, facilitated by the nearby urban markets. This creates a credit system for the village through the formal economy, enabling them to obtain purchasing power in advance of the harvest, and thereby being able to buy farm inputs for the crops under way.

Also secondary economic activities (non farming), some however tied in indirectly with the farming activities, such as transportation of crops to the urban markets, villagers who migrate seasonally to the cities to work in the industries, sometimes more permanently, as well as performing other community services, are very significant. In several of the families we interviewed one or more of the household member had migrated out to work in the urban industries, and more than often they send money back to their families. This was done in families at all income levels, except in the families that could afford to send their children off to a school of higher education.

One of the indicators of the above mentioned, is the fact that the younger generation tend to migrate out in search of better paid job, and a better livelihood. The landless villagers are subject to a seasonal income, working for other farmers during harvest and planting. When no work is to be found the landless are helped through special payment systems, but which we did not find time to investigate further. If not too old, the landless villagers might find work in Pangalengan or go as far away as Bandung.

Another economic indicator is the placement of the land owned, which can be the reason for the fact that landsize ownership was not an apparent wealth indicator. It seemed that villagers owning land near the river and main road, at a lower altitude, had more wealth than those owning land further up away from the river and the road. Here it seems that infrastructure plays an important role, one caused by the distance between the field and the road, thereby complicating transport to and from the field. Another infrasrtuctural problem is access to water resources, which we will further explain below.

Since no machines are used in the agricultural process, except for an incinerator, one can only conclude that the system is labour intensive, thus creating seasonal jobs for the landless.

After a long discussion we decided that the three wealth groups made up, though not in an absolutely clear manner, five livelihood strategy groups. We will in the following try to draw a more clear line between income, land size/ownership and secondary activity (secondary to farming).

Group one is both poor and landless. This category is very small, since there were no indication of extreme poverty in the village of Badra. One of the families we interviewed fell into this category.

The main income here was the wages collected from working for other farmers, and it is important to notice here that no real extra income was obtained from family members doing seasonal work in the urban areas. Money and food collected among other, richer, farmers in the form of charity supply the income in this group.

Group 2 is poor, but have some land. This category is again very small, and again no real income is obtained through secondary activity. In group 2 as in group 1 the family is of a small size, which might account for the lack of secondary income.

The small amount of land owned in this group creates an income problem. All though able to feed the family, not enough crops can be grown to be sold in the market, and therefore additional income has to be obtained through working for other farmers. Even if enough crops could be grown, the chance of a failure harvest could have grave consequences for this group of farmers, so it is more secure to work for other farmers throughout a part of the year.

Group three is made up by middle class and rich families with a minimum of land, but able to obtain wealth/income through secondary economic activity.

The secondary economic activity has two forms, either the family has a substantial size, and therefore can obtain money from family members working, more or less permanently, in the urban industries, or from one or more of the family members performing a community service through skilled labour, in transport (if the family owns a car) or as a shopkeeper.

This group falls into the category, middle class. The difference between these villagers and the former in group 3 is that their primary income stems from farming their own land. We are not quite sure how much land is actually required to belong to this particular group, but one farmer we interviewed had about 200 T land, which is 2800 m² land.

In this group you might also find family members working outside that of farming, but it must be said, that it is in none of these families the primary supply of income.

For these particular families land use/strategy becomes the main focal point when talking about their livelihood strategy.

In group five you will find the rich people with the most land. What marks this group is their need for hiring workers to work their fields, and some times leases a part of their Sawah to other farmers.

In a few cases the amount and size of the income enables the farmer to have a secondary occupation/trade, and let other farmers work his land.

In the village of Badra there are two dominant factors determining the livelihood strategy. It almost goes without saying that if you own a large amount of land; it will contribute substantially to your wealth status. However we were surprised to find, that secondary occupation, such as shopkeeper, driver or carpenter, would have such a crucial effect on the family income, and therefore the livelihood strategy found in Badra. In some cases it made up the main household income factor.

In the poor families we often found that a woman headed the family, and there were few members (adult children) in the family. In a patriarchal society such as the Indonesian, being woman also has its effect on economic status. Thus making a female household with few, or no males, and owning no land, a poor household, since the wages obtained by females in Badra is half that obtained by males. We assume that this is a wide spread phenomenon throughout most of Indonesia.

The strong hierarchy throughout the Indonesian political system is likewise represented here at a local level, and it ensures good communication throughout the Lamajang area.

Despite the existence of some sort of welfare system, there is a large gap between poor and rich households. There is no real landless problem, one reason for this could be the welfare system maintained within the village structure, but also the fact that there are only few landless people, and that these can obtain work outside the village when nothing is being harvested or planted.

The area is agricultural important in a political sense, since a lot of the crops from the area are sold on the market primarily in Bandung, but the chilli and onion can go as far as to the market in Jakarta. The main reason for this is the high-density land and the high carrying capacity.

West Java’s total of rice production rose by 77 per cent between 1971 and 1984 (Hardjono and Hill) as a consequence of the Bimas intensification program under the New Order. However the Bimas intensification programme has been less successful in west Java compared to other part of the island. The major reason for this, as mentioned before, is the input package (supplied through the green revolution), which is not suited for the particularly geographical conditions prevalent in west Java, and especially in the uplands of west Java. In spite of this, west Java has maintained rice as their primary crop due to physical conditions and the heavier rainfall, which makes the area non-suitable for crops like maize and beans.

" Unsafe water is one of the major sources of disease in Indonesia..."(Hill, 1990)

For our second mini project, we decided to research a water catchment area in Bandung along the Cikapundung River in the north. We intended to assess the effects of land use on water quality (environmental pollution) in Dago and the overall water management. Dago is the collective name of RW 1, 2 and 3 in Bandung district (map)

There are three sources of water for the inhabitants of Dago: Firstly the government established pipeline; secondly an open stream created by the poor (diverted from the same source as the pipeline), thirdly from wells, in the form of groundwater. The source is a spring located in the mountains.

Firstly we visited the water distribution centre about one kilometre from the source: Pdam Dago Pakar (Dago water management). After the visited at the detribution centre we interviewed some of the local inhabitants of Dago, and the head of the Institute of Ecology at University Padjajaran, about the problems with the water in Bandung.

Pdam Dago Pakar was the water distribution centre for the north of Bandung (see map 2).

Compared to western water distribution plants, this was very basic, although modern. It was established in 1991, as a result of financial assistance from the IGGI (a combination of western aid from, Germany, Japan and Holland etc). It is basically a filtration/processing and control plant with

a total of four filtration processes from start to finish, before the water carries on downstream through a government funded supply ( see figure 1).

There was only added one chemical in the process, it was Aluminium chloride, witch should kill the bacteria’s in the water. After the chemical was added, the water was filtrated 2 times before it went into the pipeline.

We interviewed a family, who only used water from the pump supply, because the governmental supply sometime was too chalky and expensive. They paid 250 rp for 1 m³, which totalled to about 5000 rp per Month. This supply included water for all purposes also drinking.

We were told that they get the drinking water from a mountain spring further north, while the water used for cleaning and washing laundry was taken from the river.

The water supply that they get from the mountain spring is not enough, as there is a high population density in the area, so as a consequence they have to get a supply from the government plant during the dry season. This is organised occasionally by the richer people in the area, as a sort community service.

The payment to the distributing authorities takes place on a monthly basis. The water received from the government plant is clean from diseases, opposed to the water that comes from the mountain spring, which should always be boiled, due to insects that carry disease.

One man we interviewed explained that the reason for the large spread of disease in the village area, was a result of food supply (unhygienic supply!). However the white spots we could observe on his legs, were a clear indicator of disease caused by the supply of drinking water.

In Bandung 40 % of the population are able to use the central drinking supply. The other 60 % are using water from wells of 4 to 20 m deep. The quality of the water in the well’s 4 meters deep is bad while the water in the well’s 20 meters deep is of a better quality.

There are mainly two types of diseases that are caused by a bad water supply, one is diarrea, and the other is a skin disease involving white patches on your skin. The water contains too many phosphates and carbonates as a result of pollution caused by an excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides in the agricultural sector, and the derive of polluted water into the rivers from the industries. Another problem with the textile industries is that they sometimes pump the groundwater down again, after they have used it. This worsens the problem even further since the groundwater in some areas is more polluted than the surface water.

The villagers also use the riverbanks as a dumping ground thereby adding to the pollution. Often the water, even from the best water supplies has to be boiled, so is the nature of the pollution in and around Bandung, and in fact in all of Indonesia today. She amplified this statement by adding to it the fact that a litre of water is more expensive than a litre of fuel. She explained that is was not possible to, at least not in any near future, to raise the fuel prices in order to make up for the pollution-cost effect on drinking water, because the excessive need for transportation, and the important economic role that transport plays in Indonesia today.

In the following we have used our study of Dago District as a starting point for further discussion, of the general situation of water supply and management in Indonesia today (based on further reading and information from Institute of ecology).

Increasing population pressure for agriculture (food) production is effecting land use in the river catchment. It has an important effect on water supply. Especially susceptible to change are poor as they use the natural supply, not governmental treated supply which costs money. Even this supply however, is not up to western standards. We can conclude that water supplies, including the catchment area we studied, are generally not acceptable for human consumption.

Urbanisation appears to be an inevitable result of the development process, the concentration of people in cities and towns simultaneously increase the concentration of pollution from human and economic activity and the number of people exposed to health hazards of that pollution, with the urban poor least able to protect themselves from environmental degradation.

According to professors from the Institute of Ecology, Bandung, most sources of the water (with the exception of bottled water) are unsafe to drink. A major reason for the poor quality of water supply in urban areas is that about two thirds of the public water supplies are derived from increasingly polluted surface waters. There is a high level of chemical contamination leached from the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides on crops, which we observed near to the source in the mountains above Dago. Phopates and carbonates are still used, whereas many other chemicals have recently been banned after governmental pressure. These are still easily degradable in the environment and not only contribute to the above mentioned overland flow contamination, but also seep into groundwater supplies. The only sustainable solution would be to clean up pollution at the source as in the lower basin of rivers it would be too expensive to treat supplies, given the high degree of pollution (beyond the capacity of existing treatment plants). Farmers need to be educated and given alternative sources of fertiliser methods. This is easier said than done, especially considering population pressures in West Java.

The main issue associated with sanitation system is that they are often operated with little regard to safe human waste disposal. There is a lack of guidelines and financial input to improve this according to research done at the Institute of Ecology. Waste often goes directly into the water supply as we observed. There is an inability of the present management system to ensure safe waste disposal. Leaching is a common side effect of the discarding of solid waste directly into waterways as well as rubbish bins that are kept near water supplies.

We witnessed that miss-use of sewage supplies in Dago catchment area, especially where road gutters were used as dumping grounds for all sorts of waste. Random rubbish dumping in waterwaysimpedes drainage during the rainy season and contributes to stagnation during the dry season. Health impacts can result from direct contact with solid waste or can be indirectly caused by any of the above contamination paths. Direct health impacts include skin, respiratory and diarreal diseases. The intensive use of pesticides and fertilisers on rice crops in particular, has had immense effects on the quality of water supply, evident even near the source of our catchment. The well was also exposed allowing for less protection against waste.

Use of pesticides on the crops by the source is having effects on health of villagers down stream, and they are oblivious and powerless to the problems of contaminated supply. This was evident from our interviews and also observations. There are also further combinations of factors to mention resulting in poor water quality we found, including erosion in upland watersheds, increasingly built up urban land etc. This has lead to increasing problems of flooding in urban areas.

We can suggest that even if they accepted the problems, it is difficult for the public to do anything about it. In the long run they need the capital to treat their own supply (boiling water is not sufficient). External financial help is replied upon in such a case from government, but more realistically/frequently from international aid funds. It is a unfortunately, an inevitable consequence of a poorer economy. Not only is this financial input essential to improve existing situations, but there is also a need of a better management to help sustain conditions to a higher level, and more public awareness.

Lamanjang’s role in an Indonesian context, is one of agro-economic significance, as the supplier of food for the population of both Bandung and Jakarta. However Indonesia has seen the need for a rice import the last few years, clearly due to the pressure caused by agricultural intensification and increased farm inputs, creating declining soil fertility and increased erosion, in combination with the population pressure. Especially the former became clear through our study of the village Badra in the Lamanjang area. We did not exactly seen any signs of erosion, and the farmers did not at first hand seem like they had any problems with the soil fertility, but they did indeed try to increase the output of rice production, by experimenting with different rice sorts. It is clear that, all though not suitable for upland production systems, the Bimas intensification programme is pushed through further and further into the uplands, or so it would seem.

The consequences of the Bimas intensification programme, installed by the Indonesia government, all though creating self-sufficiency throughout the seventies and eighties, has been pollution and finally production limitations.

The Bimas intensification programme has been directed at increasing the rice production in Indonesia, and thereby overlooking other forms of crop production, that might be suitable in certain regional area of Java, and indeed all of Indonesia. I several other Asian countries, the low output of rice has been recognised and therefore they have begun to focus on other stable crops than rice. We believe that our study of Badra showed exactly that at least a moderate change of stable crop from rice, to perhaps chilli, should be considered, all depending on the physical limitations. This should perhaps also be recognised from a political point of view in Indonesia.

Throughout most of west Java the water is so polluted that, unless a proper management plan is installed, it will greatly damage the health of the average Indonesian over time. It goes without saying that the pollution not only stems from agricultural activity, but from the combination of agricultural and industrial activity. The intensification of agricultural activity, however, means that there are almost no water sources existing untouched by pollution. This creates the need for water treatment plants, but these can be quite costly, and therefore they are few, and the water cleaned there is only affordable to the wealthier layers of Indonesian society. All in all this calls for increased expenditure from the Indonesian government, but will this ever happen? Indonesia’s politicians and government officials have to start realise, that all though expensive and perhaps damaging to other growth sectors, they cannot afford not to make the necessary investments. The environment is a resource of great value, even more than any other resource, over time.

If Jakarta wants to keep its growth going it has to start focusing on other potentials for growth. In the agricultural sector we have already mentioned growing other stables to increase the food crop production. This in turn can maybe decrease the need for farm inputs, such as artificial fertilisers and pesticides, and thereby partly remove the pressure put on the environment as a consequence. It is frightening to hear, at the institute of ecology in Bandung, that a litre of gasoline is more expensive than a litre of clean water…This will have to change if Jakarta, and all of Indonesia, will continue to move towards playing a dominant role in Asian and international economy.