THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY AND POWER IN ACHIEVING AGRICULTURAL CONVERSIONS TO SUSTAINABLE RICE TERRACE ECOSYSTEMS: A CASE STUDY IN BUAHAN KAJA, BALI

Abstract: In, the Balinese Village of Buahan Kaja, BPTP (Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology), a sector of the Indonesian concerned with research and technology, has implemented a program (Pri Mitani) which aims to (a) aid farmers in the conversion from conventional chemical based methods to organic, sustainable systems, (b) help farmers produce better quality produce that can be competitive on an international market, and (c) develop agribusiness and ecotourism to improve the village economy. The purpose of this study, using the framework of Political Ecology, was to explore the conflicting forces that affect farmers in their decision to convert to organic methods, the government’s motivations behind implementing such a program, the power structure upon which program is being implemented, and what this implementation structure means for agricultural sustainability, social organization. In doing so, this study answers the following questions: What are the goals of the current conversion program? Who are the actors involved in its development and implementation? What are the economic and ecological factors at play in terms of the farmers’ ability to convert to organic methods? How does the program attempt to account for these factors? How does this conversion program compare with that of the Green Revolution? Does the program promote agricultural sustainability? Data was collected through, interviews and review of government documents. By exploring the technology, power structure, and implementation strategies used currently and during the Green Revolution, this study has outlined the difficulty in making a distinction between local sustainable systems and modernized agricultural systems. This study found that (a) both local/sustainable systems and modernized systems require similar forms of technology (b) that technology that is necessary for farmers to convert to organic/sustainable agriculture and (c) the affect of technology on the sustainability of agricultural systems is influenced by the power structure on which the policy is implemented, the actors involved in its implementation, and the motivations of those actors. This study concludes that because (a) BPTP is proposing that it is through economic growth that technology can be developed and environmental issues be solved and (b) pressure to be competitive on the global market is allowing unsustainable values of consumerism to replace traditional sustainable human-environment relationships with unsustainable human-market relationships, the program will result in undesirable environmental impacts.