From traditional to modern rice farming methods: A case study on smallholder farmers in the subaks of Gunung Sari village, Bali, Indonesia

Sammanfattning: Historically, smallholder farmers have dominated rice production in the Global South, typically cultivating rice on less than one hectare of land. In Indonesia, rice is the staple crop and is both a political and cultural commodity. The 1970s Green Revolution aimed at decreasing world hunger through the implementation of new agricultural innovations in the form of new technologies and HYV seeds. This contributed to increasing food supply and security. However, it also further marginalised traditional agricultural knowledge, rural poor and women. This study is centered on the case of the subak- Bali’s traditional irrigation management system- in the village of Gunung Sari, Bali, Indonesia. A combination of concepts: agricultural innovations, gendered division of labour as well as livelihoods are used as a framework to discuss the implications new agricultural technologies, such as the hand-held tractor and HYV rice seeds, has had on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and on the gendered division of agricultural labour. Data was collected through qualitative and quantitative methods during an eight week field study. The findings reveal that male smallholder farmers are increasingly adopting new agricultural machinery because it results in more time saved to diversify income. While farming activities were once dominated by women this is now changing. Furthermore findings show that there is a gap between ownership and access to resources (land, agricultural machinery and livestock) which are essential to smallholder farmers livelihoods.