Farmer’s Market: Ubud, Bali

A week spent mapping Bali’s rice fields was enough to convince one Negara farmer that chemical fertilizers come at a price beyond the rupiah.

“I was mapping with IDEP (Indonesian Development Permaculture) and got really sick and ended up in the intensive care unit for a week with chemical poisoning. I was already into organic farming, but that really shocked me,” says Sayu Komang, who is now committed to not only farming organically, but spreading the word, and healthy foods, to the wider community.

Sayu, along with almost a dozen other organic farmers, has set up a weekly organic food market in Ubud to not only sell their produce, but also to let the wider community know there is another choice in the foods they buy.

“We set up a cooperative of organic farmers late last year with the goal of marketing our chemical-free produce. There are a lot of farmers who have returned to traditional farming methods, but marketing their produce was a problem.

“The farmers’ market and cooperative was started to address that,” says Sayu, who travels weekly from Negara to sell her virgin coconut oils, cocoa and vanilla beans.

The farmers’ market is held from 9:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. every Saturday on the verandah of Pizza Bagus in Ubud. Pizza Bagus has given the space free to the cooperative to support the goals of Bali’s chemical-free farmers.

Sayu said the decision by farmers to shift from a dependence on chemical fertilizers to organic farming is not easy.

The sheer hard work involved in the changeover from chemical to chemical free farming had held many farmers back from the move.

“Organic farming is famous and more Balinese people are really getting into it, but in the beginning there are problems with pests and other farming issues.

“I help farmers work through these, teaching them how to control pests naturally. The mission of our farmers’ market is helping chemical free farmers and small business market the produce they have grown,” says Sayu.

The potential returns to farmers who take the plunge into organic farming are high, according to Sayu, who says her own farming family achieves much higher returns for their produce since going organic.

“I have a garden in Negara growing broccoli, lettuce, vanilla, coca and coconuts. We make our own virgin coconut oil that we press ourselves.

“My family formed a group to make the oil and they are all really happy with the results. We can sell at a much better price, because it is all chemical free. The family is very happy to have gone chemical-free,” says Sayu.

And the prices at the weekly market prove the value in better quality foods. Tomatoes sell like hotcakes for Rp 12,000 per kilo versus less than half that in supermarkets or traditional markets; lettuce goes for Rp 3000 per 100 grams and a loaf of fresh bread, still warm from the oven is Rp 17,000.

But these prices are not holding back customers, who weekly queue up to buy chemical free foods.

Some people even make the hour-long journey to Ubud from Kerobokan and Kuta to shop at the farmers’ market and discussions are now underway to expand into those areas.

She stresses all the food at the market is fresh with the farmers’ cooperative having a strict policy on the quality of foods sold at the market.

“All the food is fresh. We explained to the cooperative members that they have to sell really fresh food. Because we grow these ourselves the food is good and we try to grow the best quality we can,” says Sayu in between a rush of customers keen to try her chemical-free vanilla beans before they are sold out.

Trisha Sertori