By: Davit Purwodesrantau

Palangka Raya--- The Regent of Murung Raya Regency (Mura) supports WWF's activities in initiating Bahitom village as one of the pilot villages for agribusiness-based tourism in Mura. He considered that the agricultural demonstration plot assisted by WWF Indonesia Central Kalimantan is a very good initiative to increase public awareness in farming.

In building Bahitom Tourism Village, it is done through a long and mature process. For this reason, the Government of Murung Raya Regency and Bahitom Village Government in collaboration with WWF Indonesia Central Kalimantan provided assistance in preparing to realize Bahitom Tourism Village. Currently, Bahitom Village is improving itself to become an agro-tourism village.

The Regent of Mura, Drs Perdie MA, seriously responded to this. Through the Mura Regent Decree Number: 188.45/383/2016 concerning the Bahitom Tourism Village Development Working Group. The Mura Regency Government's seriousness is seen by implementing a village community empowerment program. It is hoped that this Working Group can as soon as possible to make preparations and improvements to Bahitom Village so that it is ready to become an agro-tourism village which is certainly an attraction for tourists to come to Mura.

Therefore, the Mura Regency Government together with the Bahitom Village Government supported and facilitated by WWF Indonesia Central Kalimantan will launch a Tourism Village program. It is hoped that the existence of this tourist village can introduce the beauty of Mura to the national and world levels. The concept of developing Bahitom agro-tourism village integrates the concept of environmentally friendly agriculture (organic farming) with community empowerment in ecotourism packaging.

In a field review on February 14, 2017, the Regent of Mura said, when facilitated by WWF Indonesia Kalimantan he visited several places in Yogyakarta in October 2016, he saw that the potential in Mura was not inferior to that in other areas, especially outside Kalimantan. "We have a large area, a good level of soil fertility, and support from the local government, the only fundamental problem is whether the community wants to implement it or not. This demonstration plot is a good thing and should be developed," said the Regent.

The Regent said, in the last two years, WWF Indonesia Central Kalimantan has provided learning facilitation to increase the capacity of the community, one of which is by building an organic farming demonstration plot which will later be managed by the Bahitom community as an alternative tourist destination, especially environmental education tourism.

"The existence of an organic farming site in Bahitom covering an area of 5.6 Ha that has been facilitated by WWF is an asset for us to develop and package tourism packages based on existing local wisdom," said the Regent.

This activity was held to coincide with the start of the field internship practice of SMKN 1 Murung Raya students in Bahitom Village. In addition, the location of the Bahitom organic farming pilot plot facilitated by WWF Indonesia Central Kalimantan will be inaugurated later.

In the activity, the Regent toured the demonstration plot and had time to enjoy the cultivated cassava and mushroom processing results. In addition, the Regent also promised to provide assistance for 4 cows.

Bahitom is quite feasible to be developed into a Development Priority Village, especially the development of agro-tourism. With an area of 56 km2, Bahitom has promising development prospects. The majority of Bahitom villagers are farmers. The fertile condition of the area provides its own advantages.

The village has rubber plantations that are widely spread in several areas. In addition, the potential of the forest is still maintained, because some people still rely on forest products for their needs. Bahitom Village forest area is included in the working area of KPH Unit II Murung Raya.

Meanwhile, Muller Schwaner Arabela Landscape Leader Ambang Wijaya said, the determination of Bahitom Village to become a tourist village has gone through various stages of the process. "Before it was decided together by the Bahitom Village community to build this Bahitom Agrotourism Village pilot, we, together with the Regent and related officials, had visited two villages in Yogyakarta that had implemented this concept first," explained Ambang.

With the utilization of environmental services in the form of agro-tourism in Bahitom Village, this is expected to increase community income, income for the village and local government. This will also contribute to efforts to reduce pressure and potential environmental damage in Bahitom itself.

The concept of Village Tourism that will be developed in Bahitom is Environmental Education Tourism and outbound. For the time being, the activities are only aimed at schools in the capital city of Murung Raya, Puruk Cahu. However, in the future it is hoped that this tour will be accepted by the wider community.

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For further information, please contact:
Ambang Wijaya, Muller Schwaner Arabela Landscape Leader
Email : [email protected]
Correspondent: Davit Purwodesrantau, [email protected]