The Dyak Iban Way of Farming

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If Not Us Then Who? Film 3 (12:30) 2021
The Dayak Iban Way of Farming

This is one of seven short films about sustainable living in the forests of Indonesia, Costa Rica and Brazil. Taken together, they tell a story of oppression, resistance, accomplishments, and confidence for the future.

CURATOR
Laura Miller
Applied ethicist and instructor, Southwestern Illinois College, St. Louis Community College, Fontbonne University, and Webster University

Please download the teacher's guide for maps, background information, suggested subjects, questions and activities.

SYNOPSIS
"Then came the companies taking the trees, destroying the forest and ruining nature, and we became their scapegoat."

The Sungai Utik, Dayak Iban way of farming is that of their ancestors. Their cultivation techniques involve rotating fields and crops so that some fields lie dormant while others are farmed. It is this traditional method of opening a field for planting that has been deemed problematic, even illegal, since the Sungai Utik use carefully controlled burning to open their fields for planting. These fires have been said to cause pollution and forest fires, though the clearing of land by palm oil plantations, said to be the main source of these problems, faces little scrutiny. The loss of this traditional method of farming, including the right to burn the fields, would fundamentally change what it is to be Sungai Utik, Dayak Iban. Lost would be their way of farming, the rituals used to open fields, blessings and offerings, and their ability to provide for themselves.

TEACHING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE WITH DOCUMENTARIES
This guide was created with the intention of exploring the lived experiences of Indigenous peoples in the Global South. These experiences demonstrate the resilience of the people born in these locations and their struggle to maintain the connections to their ancestors through their cultural practices, rituals, and defiance.

I consider this to be a legacy project in which the contributors are seeking to honor the lives of their elders and those who have come before them. As an educator, I cannot replace seeing the faces, places, and lived experiences through the eyes of another. No matter how graphic a text depiction might be, the essence of experience conveyed through film is far more powerful. I encourage you to embrace this ethnographic approach to cultural anthropology and to embrace the narratives of peoples who have overcome modernization and threats from commercial interests and other harms, and who have found unexpected alliances and opportunities to thrive.

—

Other titles in the If Not Us Then Who? Collection:

1. Sungai Utik: The Fight for Recognition

2. Building a Traditional Longhouse

3. The Dyak Iban Way of Farming

4. Homecoming: Indonesian Indigenous Youth Return

5. Sustainable Solution: Costa Rica

6. Brazil's Warrior Women

7. A Tribute to Dona Dijé

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

Sungai Utik, West Borneo,; Indonesia, Kalimantan (island),; Kampung Galau reserve forest,; Kampung Taroh protected forest,Indigenous,land rights,Kynan Tegar,policy,recognition,United Nations Equator Prize,poverty,sustainable forestry,palm oil,longhouse,Sungai Utik,Dayak Iban,Dayaks,Borneo,Indonesia,Embaloh people,Bumi Raya Limited,Lanjak Entimau Limited,Apheng,NGOs,Kampung Galau,reserve forest,Kampung Taroh protected forest,Kampung,Endor Kerja, production forest,,Kalpataru Award,Equator Prize,from the United Nations,Development Programme,hutan adat (customary forest),Ministry of Environment and,Forestry of Indonesia,; "The Dyak Eban Way of Farming ";

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For hundreds of years, we have been farming.

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Before Indonesia was formed, we were already farming.

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Then came the companies taking the trees,

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destroying the forest and ruining the nature.

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And we became their scapegoat.

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We only burn as necessary.

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We're not greedy, nor excessive.

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We farm as a way of life.

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I often did that when I was your age.

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My parents brought me to the fields.

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Farming had been transmitted to us
from generation to generation.

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He said that: "The first step in farming,
is to choose where the field will be this year".

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"After that, we look for omens,
which usually comes through dreams,

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only until we receive a good omen
can we start farming."

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That's what my father taught me.

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That is how we learned to farm.

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From farming we get paddy.

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But not just paddy, also many vegetables like cucumbers, pumpkins...

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We plant many different plants.

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We farm so that we can live the same way that our ancestors did.

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If we want to live sustainably as they did,

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we must follow their traditions and cultural values.

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In many places on the island of Kalimantan,

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indigenous Dayak farmers are being criminalized

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for practicing our culture of opening the field by burning it.

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There are indigenous farmers being trialed in court,

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some have been convicted and imprisoned,

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some have been freed after mass protests.

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Dayak communities uneased at the start of every farming season,

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whilst the big corporations that have been suspects

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in the forest fire cases continue business as usual.

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Will this continue to happen?

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We don't just carelessly burn the field.

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We call it "Nunu" in the Iban language.

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Before burning, we would observe the conditions around the field.

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We only start burning when it is optimal.

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On the edges of the field, we create partitions so the fire doesn't spread.

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We don't want it to spread to the forest nearby.

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So we look after the fire until it's out.

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Our field, for example, is not very big.

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It usually takes just around 2 hours.

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For hundreds of years, we have farmed traditionally.

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Ever since our ancestors,

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farming has always been our life.

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We farm to get paddy.

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We look for dreams, listen for signs before opening the field

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So that we can have a good harvest.

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When we have guests at the field, we offer them rice wine

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It's a sign of gratitude,

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like we've always done.

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If we have rice, we cook, and we eat together

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Like you, you are our guests at this field.

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You bring fortune to us.

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When we first open the fields, we "Nengah Ambo".

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We open the field together, with the whole family.

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The Dayak Iban way of farming is both a long and complex process

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Every stage of the farming season is accompanied by a ritual

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At the start of the farming season, we first ask

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for permission and blessing from the spirits.

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And at the end of it, we hold a harvest celebration called the "Gawai",

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expressing our gratitude for the harvest.

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We then clear the field,

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afterward we burn the field and then start planting.

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We have been farming in this area for around 3 years

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Every few years or so we move our fields

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On the next farming season, we'll move the field forward
continuing from the last field

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Leaving the previous field for maybe ten or even fifteen years.

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Only then, do we come back there.

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That's our way of farming.

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We wait for the old field to regain their fertility before returning to them.

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Dayak farmers open our fields by slash-and-burn.

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Coming back to previous fields, not opening new forest areas.

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Fields that were cultivated in the years past,

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once it has regained its fertility is used once more.

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Our family gets enough from farming,

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Until the next harvest, we don't need to buy any rice.

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If we get enough paddy from our fields,
we don't need to receive help from outside

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If we don't burn the fields,

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our paddy wouldn't be fertile.

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If the fields aren't burnt first then we won't have a good harvest.

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We can't farm traditionally without burning the fields.

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What will happen if we're not allowed to farm traditionally?

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Like our old paddies, it has been passed down for generations.

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For how many generations, we don't know.

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This is why we must continue farming traditionally.

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In Sungai Utik alone there are dozens of varieties of paddy seeds.

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These seeds are transmitted from generation to generation.

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If we can't continue our traditional way of farming
these seeds will become extinct.

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Sungai Utik's customary territory is more than 10,000 hectares big

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± 20% of it is used for settlements and farm fields.

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± 65% of it is a protected forest area
called "Kampung Galau" and "Kampung Taroh".

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± 15% of it is a production forest
which is used in accordance with customary law.

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All of it is owned and managed by more than 300

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members of the Dayak Iban community of Sungai Utik

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"The Dayak Iban Way of Farming"
A film by Kynan Tegar

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Interviews in order of appearance:
Kote, Kidao, Indai Jamet, Layang

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Opening song:
"Peladang" by Kepal SPI

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Forest fire archive
Nanang Sujana

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With special thanks
to Bima Valian

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Sponsored by:
If Not Us Then Who?