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The Krayan farmers group known as Hidro Do, meaning good and life giving water. Author’s documentation.
On the morning of June 13, 2025, the highlands of Krayan were wrapped in their usual calm. Mist drifted gently above Long Bawan, softening the edges of hills and vanilla vines alike.
There was no stage and no microphone, no choreography of power. Yet what happened that Friday would quietly shape the direction of agriculture and agrotourism in one of Borneo’s most intact cultural landscapes.
Morning in the Highlands Where Decisions Are Made Quietly
Standing among farmers and elders at Jen Alang’s vanilla plantation, Dr. Yansen TP declared the formation of a new farmers collective called Poktan (farmers group) Hidro Do. The announcement felt less like an event and more like a confirmation. In Krayan, important decisions often arrive without spectacle. They arrive through consensus, trust, and long conversations with the land.
Krayan sits high along the northern spine of Borneo, in North Kalimantan’s Nunukan Regency. It is a place where rivers are born and where agriculture remains inseparable from identity. Farming here is not an occupation alone. It is memory, ethics, and survival carried forward through generations of the Lundayeh people.
The creation of Poktan Hidro Do did not interrupt daily life. It blended into it. That is precisely why it mattered.
Hidro Do
Water, Goodness, and the Language of the Land
The name Hidro Do speaks in two tongues at once. Hidro means water, the lifeblood of Krayan’s plateau. Do in the Lundayeh language means good. Together they form a philosophy rather than a brand. Farming must follow water. Farming must aim at goodness.
This philosophy was not invented for a proposal or a funding cycle. It grew out of lived experience. Dr. Yansen TP, known locally simply as guru, has spent decades reminding Krayan that progress does not need to erase wisdom. His authority does not come from titles. It comes from consistency.
Vanilla was the perfect place to begin. At Jen Alang’s plantation, the vines have already proven their worth. With prices reaching 2.5 million rupiah per kilogram, vanilla has shown that organic methods can deliver both ecological integrity and real economic benefit. This is not hypothetical sustainability. It is sustainability that pays school fees, repairs homes, and keeps young people rooted in their villages.
“I believe vanilla is one of the leading commodities that defines Krayan’s organic agriculture,” Yansen said. The statement carried weight because it was grounded in observation, not optimism. Vanilla here grows slowly, shaded by forest trees, pollinated by careful hands, cured with patience. Nothing about it is rushed.
Poktan Hidro Do was born from this patience.
Building Krayan with Natural Capital
A Vision That Refuses Shortcuts
The formation of Poktan Hidro Do responds directly to a long standing idea known locally as Membangun Krayan dengan Modal Alam, or building Krayan with natural capital. First articulated by Samuel Tipa Padan and consistently strengthened by Dr. Yansen, the idea challenges a familiar development script.
Krayan does not need to import prosperity. It needs to recognize what it already has.
This vision was reiterated days earlier during the 8th Organic Agriculture Day, held from June 11 to 13, 2025, in Tanjung Karya village. Farmers, traditional leaders, local officials, and residents gathered not to celebrate achievements alone, but to reaffirm commitments. Organic agriculture here is not a trend. It is a continuation.
Yansen reminded the audience that organic farming in Krayan is not limited to adan rice, the region’s most famous crop. Rice may be the symbol, but it is not the whole story. Vanilla, coffee, fruits, tubers, medicinal plants, and forest products all thrive when cultivated in harmony with local values.
What distinguishes Krayan’s organic agriculture is coherence. The methods fit the land. The values fit the community. The outcomes fit the future. There is no violent push against nature here, no dependency on chemical inputs that disconnect farmers from their soil.
Poktan Hidro Do serves as a collective classroom. Knowledge moves horizontally. Elders share ethics. Experienced farmers share technique. Younger members contribute energy and adaptation. In this exchange, agriculture becomes a living archive.
When Farming Becomes a Journey
Agrotourism Without Performance
Krayan’s agrotourism potential lies precisely in what it refuses to perform. Visitors who arrive here do not encounter staged traditions or artificial villages. They encounter real work done at a human pace.
Vanilla gardens such as Jen Alang’s plantation are open landscapes of learning. Visitors walk beneath vines heavy with promise. They listen as farmers explain organic pollination and curing. They understand why quality here is inseparable from time.
Poktan Hidro Do strengthens this quiet invitation. It allows Krayan to welcome outsiders not as consumers of culture, but as witnesses to it. Agrotourism here is participatory and reflective. Guests harvest, process, cook, and share meals sourced from the same land they have just touched.
In this setting, sustainability becomes tangible. It is no longer a slogan. It is a discipline practiced daily. Prosperity reveals itself not through excess, but through balance.
As global travelers increasingly seek meaning over spectacle, Krayan offers something rare. A place where agriculture, culture, and ecology remain intact because they were never separated in the first place.
On that misty Friday morning in Long Bawan, there was no applause to close the declaration of Poktan Hidro Do. People simply returned to their tasks. Conversations continued. Leaves rustled. Water flowed downhill as it always has.
In Krayan, the future does not arrive loudly. It grows. Slowly. Organically. Rooted in water, guided by goodness, and carried forward by people who understand that the land is not inherited from ancestors alone, but borrowed from those yet to come.
