Blang Beutong is a blang — a complex of sawahs — in the landschap (self-governing native state) of Koeala Daja of the onderafdeeling Tjalang on the Westkust van Atjeh, documented by J. Kreemer in his *De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden* (1918) as one of the most beautiful sawah complexes of the Westkust, and as a representative specimen of the rain-dependent sawahs of the historic rice-storehouse of Daja.
The Sawahs of Blang Beutong
Kreemer’s regional survey of the Atjeh rice economy records that “de sawah’s op de Blang Beutong in het landschap Koeala Daja behooren tot de mooiste” — the sawahs on the Blang Beutong in the landschap Koeala Daja belong to the most beautiful — but that “ook hier zijn deze akkers uitsluitend van regen afhankelijk” — even here these fields are exclusively dependent on rain.
The Blang Beutong is thus a blang of beautiful sawahs — that is, of well-cultivated, well-maintained rice fields — but one that lacks artificial irrigation. The water supply of the Blang Beutong sawahs depends solely on the rainfall, retained on the fields by the small enclosing dikes (ateuëng). The yield of the Blang Beutong is therefore subject to the variability of the rainfall, as in the rain-dependent sawahs of Groot-Atjeh.
The Historic Role of Daja
The Blang Beutong is in the landschap of Koeala Daja, which is part of the historic territory of Daja — the great rice-storehouse of the Westkust of Atjeh. Kreemer notes that “van oudsher is Daja de groote voorraadschuur van rijst geweest voor een groot deel van de overige onderafdeelingen der Westkust” — from old times Daja has been the great storehouse of rice for a great part of the other sub-divisions of the Westkust. The Blang Beutong, as one of the beautiful sawah complexes of Koeala Daja, is thus part of the historic rice-storehouse of the Westkust.
The Westkust of Atjeh is, however, a region in which artificial irrigation is rare: Kreemer notes that “kunstmatige bevloeiing vindt men alleen in het landschap Panté Tjeureumèn” — artificial irrigation is found only in the landschap Panté Tjeureumèn. The Blang Beutong, like the rest of the Daja sawahs, is rain-dependent — and the historic role of Daja as the rice-storehouse of the Westkust rests on the productivity of the rain-dependent sawahs of its blangs.
Significance
Blang Beutong is significant for the encyclopedia of Aceh history as one of the most beautiful sawah complexes of the Westkust of Atjeh, and as a representative specimen of the rain-dependent sawahs of the historic rice-storehouse of Daja. The Blang Beutong exemplifies the paradox of the Westkust rice-economy: the most beautiful sawahs are rain-dependent, and the historic rice-storehouse of the Westkust relies on the variability of the rainfall rather than on the security of artificial irrigation.
See Also
- Rijstbouw in Atjeh
- Sawah
- Blang
- Daja
- Koeala Daja
- Tjalang
- Panté Tjeureumèn
- Westkust van Atjeh
- Kreemer’s De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (1918)
- J. Kreemer
- 1918
Source
De rijstcultuur in het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, by J. Kreemer (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1918), p. 22 (the sawahs of Blang Beutong in the landschap Koeala Daja, and the historic role of Daja as the rice-storehouse of the Westkust).