A large part of the Hospitality School and Maringi Sumba campus is dedicated to the growth and maintenance of our permaculture farm. The produce is served in Maringi’s restaurant and in Makan Dulu.
On the farm, we teach students the key ethics of permaculture: Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share. Which are in line with our aim to respect the “Conservation” C of responsible tourism.
Permaculture (permanent agriculture) was originally coined in Australia in the late seventies by David Holmgren and Bill Mollison. Bill Mollison defines it as “a philosophy of working with, rather than against, nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labour; and of considering plants and animals in all their functions rather than treating each area as a one-product system.”
To understand the fundamentals of permaculture, it is important to recognise that all decisions are rooted in three ethics: earth care, people care, and fair share.
Permaculture is a complete change of lifestyle, a change of approach that ensures our habits and practises work with and benefit the planet, rather than just taking from it and polluting it. It is a strict system in terms of ethics, but it is surprisingly open in its approach. Whatever is good for how we treat people and our planet has its place in the practise. This makes it ideal to introduce in all the home villages of our students.
Since 2016, a piece of barren land has been transformed into a green oasis. All 8 hectares are part of our permaculture concept, as this is a design principle. Of these, 4 hectares are actively used to grow fruit and vegetables for daily use by our employees, students and hotel guests.
Our team of 10 full-time gardeners use only natural fertiliser from food waste and foliage and now harvest 1 tonne of organic fruit and vegetables every month, significantly reducing the need for external produce. The garden serves as an educational resource where students learn sustainable agricultural practises such as composting and plant cultivation, skills they can share with their families.
In 2025, we aim to further expand our garden by increasing the number of trees while investing in staff training and hosting students from the local agricultural school as interns.
