Traditional rice workOne often gets the impression that nothing but wet-rice is grown on Bali, because of the unobstructed vistas offered by extensive irrigated rice fields between villages. This is not so. Out of a total of 563,286 hectares of arable land on Bali, just 108,200 hectares or about 19 percent is irrigated rice fields (sawah). Another 157,209 hectares are non-irrigated dry fields (tegalan) producing one rain-fed crop per year. A further 134,419 hectares are forested lands mostly belonging to the state, and 99,151 hectares are devoted to cash crop gardens (kebun) with tree and bush culture. Compared with the figures for 1980, a gradual decrease in the total area under cultivation may be noted, resulting mainly from population pressures and tourism development. This includes a real estate and building boom in the coastal resort areas and tourist handicraft villages such as Celuk and Ubud.
Other crops include Balinese coffee, famous the world over for its delicate aroma and still an important export commodity. Lately, the production of cloves, vanilla and tobacco has also stepped up, and in mountainous regions such as Bedugul, new vegetable varieties are under intensive cultivation to supply the tourist trade. Other export commodities include copra and related products of the coconut palm.
For subsistence cultivators, the coconut palm in fact remains, as before, a "tree of life" that can be utilized from the root right up to the tip. It provides building materials (the wood, leaves and leaf ribs), fuel (the leaves and dried husks), kitchen and household items (shells and fibers for utensils), as well as food and ritual objects (vessels, offerings, plaited objects, food and drink).
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