Lati' Ba' system of the Lun Bawang in Ba'Kelalan: change and community responses

• Main Author: Dora, Jok
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2012
• Subjects: S Agriculture (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/13056/1/Dora.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/13056/4/Dora%20jok%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/13056/

For centuries, the Lun Bawang of Borneo highlands have produced a sustainable farming by integrating their social and residential arrangements with a complex but highly productive system ofwet-rice cultivation known as lati' ba) However, the Lun Bawang culture has been experiencing drastic changes including their lali' ba' system especially the agricultural work groups. Therefore, this study, taking Long Rusu, Long Ritan and Long Nawi villages in Ba' Kelalan as the study sites, is to uncover the changes on lali' ba' and the Lun Bawang community responses to these changes. The study found a considerable changes on lati' ba' for example, rice has become a means for obtaining cash, problem of finding enough labour, limitations in buffaloes rearing and all these have implications on their agricultural work groups and the use of chemical inputs such as fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides in lati ' ba '. In order to cope with these changes, the Lun Bawang had made alteration to their agricultural work groups, the church became the centre points of arranging ngumum and initiated a transboundary networking to address environmental issues and promote the continuation oftraditional and organic farming in the highlands of Borneo.