Chapter 8. Practising Anthropology by Providing Climate Services for Farmers: The Case of Science Field Shops in Indonesia
Year: 2021
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: D uring the period in which I began my engagement facilitating farm- ers in a dry, rain-fed ecosystem in Yogyakarta Province in Java, Indonesia, in the early rainy season of 2008, rains fell continuously for seven days in a row.The farmers interpreted this as an indication that it was time to begin their rainy-season cultivation.However, after the initial deluge, not a single drop of rain fell for three full weeks.In the farmers' terms, this long dry spell was known as benthatan.Unexpectedly, two days of heavy rains followed the long dry spell, and the rice and maize, which had only recently been planted and had grown slowly during the dry period, were damaged due to the heavy rains and flooding.Farmers questioned these sudden heavy rains following the long dry spell (Winarto et al. 2011:188-89).Six years later, in 2014, at the time I began introducing methods of agrometeorological learning to the farmers of another dry, rain-fed village in Western Nusa Tenggara Province, an elderly farmer's interpretation of the fall of intensive rains based on local cosmology led farmers to expect plentiful rains at the beginning of the rainy season in around November.However, his prediction proved incorrect and the farmers experienced an extended drought.Every year, in February, the villagers of this area traditionally hold a ritual for 'catching up sea-worms' (the ritual of Bau Nyalé).This festival usually occurs at a time of heavy rains.However, in February 2015, the weather was surprisingly dry (Taqiuddin 2017) and the people could not explain why it was so.These are but a few examples of the increasing occurrence of unexpected weather phenomena in local habitats that have aroused puzzlement
Source: Berghahn Books
Author: Yunita T. Winarto
Language: English
Subfield: Agronomy and Crop Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Zero hunger, Climate action
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4393019430