Marapu and Farming: How Tourism Shape Rural Development and Ancient Tradition of Sumba Indigenous Community – Indonesia

Abstract

Tourism National Product during 2016 – 2017. Tourism development has extended beyond “Bali” Island in Eastern Indonesia in recent years. One of the famous and well-known tourism destinations in Eastern Indonesia is located in Sumba Island. This Island settled Indigenous communities practice Marapu belief system that closed related to the traditional practicing farming that attract Tourism. The paper explores Marapu and farming traditions and how recent Tourism promotions of Sumba Island have shaped rural development and ancient traditions. Data for this study were gathered as part of the first Author study on Farming System Research in Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara (ENT) province in last 10 years. The study showed that Marapu tradition is still practiced for local communities, however they have been able to incorporate some crops into traditional farming system for the market demand. The paper highlight that mixed-cropping system and diversity of food commodities keeps practiced by local communities of Sumba Island in order to minimize risk in fragile ecosystem. Strategy for Tourism development in Sumba Island should strengthen the local traditions/culture particularly in farming and in the same time protecting local resources/environment.