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n the last four years as many as 357 families (1,296 individuals) of Balinese farmers have chosen to leave the island to seek their fortunes in other islands by participating in the government-funded transmigration program.

This took place amid the continuing influx of migrant workers to Bali and the revival of the island’s lucrative tourism industry in the aftermath of the 2002 and 2005 terrorists bombings.

“Most of them were sharecroppers who didn’t posses any farm land of their own and came from low income families. They joined the program because they wanted to improve their families’ prosperity,” Bali Workforce, Transmigration and Population Agency head I Made Artadana said.

The transmigration program was introduced during Soeharto’s New Order regime as a way to reduce population density in the country’s most densely populated island, including Java and Bali, to reduce poverty and to provide Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumatra with a large pool of skilled farmers.

The government provided farm land and housing facilities for the participants of this program.

“Each participant received travel expenses, 1.25 hectares of farm land and a decent house,” he said.

Most Balinese farmers chose to be relocated to Sulawesi. The island now boasts large Balinese enclaves in Southeast Sulawesi (Konawe, South Konawe, and Bombana regencies), Central Sulawesi (Morowali, Boul, and Poso regencies) and South Sulawesi (Mahalona and Toraja regencies). Balinese farmers are well-known for being hardworking and honest.

“The Balinese farmers who participated in this program hailed from Bangli, Buleleng, Klungkung, Karangasem, Tabanan and Gianyar. In the last four years we have never had any participants from Jembrana, Badung or Denpasar,” Artadana said, adding that in 2011 the province’s quota for the transmigration program is 150 households.

The small quota had forced the agency to carry out additional verification measures to ensure that the applicants were truly eligible to join the program.

“The verification process is carried out by regency administrations,” he said.

Udayana University agriculture professor Wayan Windia praised the farmers’ decision to join the program.

“[It’s] better than staying in Bali and living under dire economic conditions. Many Balinese farmers have became successful individuals after joining the program,” he said.

Windia also saw the high number of Balinese farmers leaving the island as a sign of the local administration’s failure to improve the welfare of farmers.

“The local administrations have failed to protect the island’s agriculture sector and leave farmers to struggle alone to improve their lives,” he said.

— JP/Ni Komang Erviani