An article by Luh De Suriyani, Bali Daily – The Jakarta Post.

Bali, famed for its multi-tiered paddy fields and strong agricultural society, will have fewer farmers and a small new generation of farmers leaving the island’s agricultural sector in dire straits, a census revealed.

The agriculture census has been recently completed by Bali Statistics Agency.

The census revealed that in the 10-year period between 2003 and 2013, farming households in Bali decreased by around 83,494 households, or 8,400 households every year, an annual decrease of 1.84 percent.

In 2003, Bali had 491,725 farming households, while 10 years later, in 2013, that had fallen to only 408,229 households.

Luh Kartini, professor of agriculture at Udayana University, said that Bali’s tourism used art, culture and tradition as famous lures.

“But the real essence of Balinese culture is based on the island’s agricultural society,” the professor said, adding that spiritual and cultural tourism would be soon lose ground.

“Such tourism will not exist in the future,” stated Kartini.

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