BEFORE tourism developed rapidly in Nusa Penida area including Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Lembongan, most of the local residents were getting involved in non-irrigated farming. Meanwhile, the rest were in fishing.
In the past
When looking to the past, around the 1990s, the people cultivated crops in the fields by planting secondary crops because of limited water availability. Then, they switched to planting seaweed. It is considering that at that time the price of seaweed for export commodities was quite high, especially to Japan and Vietnam as raw materials for cosmetics and food.
Seaweed cultivation is not too difficult to do. The species widely cultivated in the areas are Euchema spinosum and Euchema cottoni. Farmers carefully tie a number of seaweed stems on a rope where the ends are then tied to a pole. Having been left submerged in seawater for approximately two months, the seaweed is ready to be harvested.
Arrival of Tourism
After the success of seaweed cultivation in Nusa Penida, tourism rapidly developed in which the islands became a new tourist destination and are often said to be similar to the condition of Kuta in the 1970s. Of course, this gives new hope for improving the community’s economy. Many people also switched professions to become tour guides, drivers of tourist transport, hotel employees and others.
Many places have emerged into new tourist destinations that have intriguingly attracted domestic and foreign tourists such as Pasih Uwug, Peguyangan Waterfall, Angel’s Billabong, tree houses and others. By the way, visiting seaweed cultivation is also included in some tour packages.
On the other hand, this development also has an impact on the fate of farmers because they lose land for seaweed cultivation. Some of their lands are used to lean on tourist boats and the hotels also take advantage of them for activities of guests staying at the hotels there, such as water sports including fishing, diving, snorkeling and others. Naturally, farmers’ seaweed production continues to decline because their land has reduced.
Covid-19 pandemic
When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, some people returned to seaweed cultivation. Those who had been working in the tourism sector return to seaweed farming. Surely, this potential sector having been successfully carried out in the past much helps people to earn their life. Hopefully, pandemic will end soon and tourism sector can revive gradually, and in the future both sectors can go hand in hand.
