and the man-made on earth. Bali's rice fields represent one of the most sophisticated and stable examples anywhere of a traditional agricultural system, a system which has been in place for nigh on a thousand years and which has much to teach modern-day farmers elsewhere.
Nestling part way down a ravine, a farmer's house is surrounded by fruit trees.
The Ayung River, Bali's largest, cuts through soft volanic rock to form a ravine so typical of the terrain around Balis central volcanoes.
Rice is more than just a staple food for the Balinese; it is a cultural and spiritual lynchpin whose cultivation has had a profound influence on the structure of Balinese society. It is even personified as a deity, the goddess Bhatari Sri. The commonest form of rice cultivation on Bali is the wetland or sawah system of flooded fields, where the water is retained by low banks or bunds. Most sawah fields may be watered by irrigation; the seasonal nature of the rainfall on Bali, especially at lower altitudes where the rice is grown, means that a scant one per cent of the 100,000 hectares or so of sawah is rain fed.
Almost 20 per cent of Bali's land is devoted to another traditional form of cultivation-the kebun or home garden. These are an intricate, mixed-cultivation system in which as many as 50 different crops of all shapes and sizes may be grown. The tallest trees are generally durians or coconuts, below which grow other fruit trees such as rambutan, jackfruit and mango, providing a lush, dark-green canopy. Also important are the nutritious papaya and the ubiquitous banana, grown not only for its fruit and edible stem but for its leaves, which have a thousand and one uses. Interplanted with these are tall ground crops such as maize and cassava, while nearer the soil are other vegetables such as taro, various spices and scrambling sweet potatoes. There are also climbers such as yam, passionfruit and melons, which can reach up into the tops of the tallest trees.
The kebun helps to ensure that Balinese families can enjoy a varied and nutritious diet, for at any given time of year, a wide range of crops will be ready for harvest. It is not, however, just a kitchen garden, for the system is increasingly used to provide crops for sale within Bali and for export. Notable amongst these are coffee, cloves, vanilla and even the Hydrangea flowers which are used in Balinese votive offerings, all of which flourish in the shade of the larger trees in the kebun.
The fertile and well-watered volcanic areas of Bali support luxuriant foliage and excellent conditions for agriculture. Balinese cows here plough a flooded rice field in preparation for the young seedlings.
Water is considered to he sacred in Bali. A bamboo conduit carries water here from a sacred spring; it is then collected to be used as holy water in temple ceremonies.
The emerald-coloured grass growing up the walls of the rice terraces contrasts with the ripening heads of rice.
Variations in colour from green to gold reflect the different stages of plantings of the all-important rice; a surprising 99 per cent of Bali's rice crop is grown in irrigated fields.
The sawah and kebun apart, one of the most distinctive features of the Balinese landscape are the enormous fig or Waringin trees which grow along the roads, close to or in temples. These magnificent trees are extremely important to fruit-eating birds and insects since they bear numerous small sweetish fruits.
Wild Rivers and Mountain Lakes
With its mountainous topography and heavy seasonal rainfall, it is not surprising that Bali has more than its fair share of rivers and streams. What is surprising, for such an apparently lush island, is that only about half of Bali's 162 named rivers and streams flow year round; the rest hold water only during the rainy season, normally from November to April.
The heavy monsoon rains create a powerful flow of water which cuts easily through the soft volcanic rocks; thus, most of Bali's rivers and streams flow in the bottom of deep, steep-sided valleys or ravines until they reach the coastal lowlands. Most rivers are short, flowing for less than 30 kilometres.
Bali's lowlands are singularly devoid of natural lakes. However, several are found in the central part of the highlands. By far the largest, most spectacular and most important to the Balinese is Lake Batur, covering just over 1,700 hectares in the ancient caldera surrounding Mount Batur. Some 30 kilometres to the west of Lake Batur are three much smaller but still impressive crater lakes at similar altitude: Lake Bratan, Lake Buyan and Lake Tamblingan. These were probably once a single lake before lava flowed across it, isolating one body of water from the next. Tamblingan is the least disturbed, most beautiful and most remote lake, while Bratan and Buyan have extensive areas of market gardens around their shores.
Lying within a vast caldera at the island's centre, Batur is Balis biggest lake and the source of an underground network of water channels which feed into sacred springs all up and down the slopes of Mount Batur.
Lake Tamblingan and Lake Buyan, seen to the far left, are thought to have once been a single lake which was later split in two by a lava flow.
The landmark temple, Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, dedicated to the goddess of Lake Bratan, lies within another volcanic crater to the west of Batur.
Fertile Bounty of Bali's Volcanoes
The soft volcanic rock and ash of the mountains are easily weathered and broken down to make a thick layer of finely textured topsoil which is generally rich in minerals and extremely fertile. In addition, the topsoil is very well drained, ensuring that there is little risk of flooding; yet it is also highly prone to leaching, as the rain easily washes out minerals. The soils at higher altitudes are particularly susceptible to this, as their only source of water is from the atmosphere. Soils lower down benefit from the loss of those further up, as they are enriched by minerals carried down in streams and irrigation water. Counterbalancing this, the soils at higher altitudes tend to be younger and thereby intrinsically more mineral-rich and fertile than those lower down. The older, low-lying soils have gradually lost their minerals over the years, resulting in an acid, kaolin-rich clay.
Leaching is most marked in wetter areas. In seasonally dry regions, evaporation from the soil tends to pull dissolved minerals up through the soil, thereby maintaining fertility. However, clay soils are sticky and hard to work when wet, as hard as concrete and cracked when dry. Thus, plants and farmers in different parts of Bali are faced with opposing problems: either there is adequate rainfall and a constant battle to maintain fertility, or reasonable fertility but highly seasonal rainfall and difficult soils. However, the clayey quality of much of the soil allows the construction of stable terraces on precipitous slopes which, in many other parts of the world, would pose a severe threat of erosion. The terraced bunds made of Bali's sunbaked clay can be almost as hard and stable as brickwork although they nevertheless require a good deal of maintenance.
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