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The pandemic, which

has lasted for almost a
year now, had caused
a significant decline in
tourist activity at the

Ubud Monkey Forest.

onths of zero visitors and lack of food re-
M sources at the attraction started to affect
villagers the Padangtegal Traditional Village planted yams
the health of the monkeys. To overcome this,

which would be used to feed the friendly pri-
mates. The Head of Padangtegal Village, I Made
feeding Gandra, initiated the idea of planting yams six
months ago in order to reduce expenses of fee-
ding the long-tail monkeys (Macaca Fascicula-
ris).
monkeys “Ubud Monkey Forest stopped operations in

March 2020 due to COVID-19, so we have been
subsidizing the operational cost since then,”
Made Gandra said on Monday.
Prior to the pandemic, the village al-
Source: loted USD 8,900 (IDR 125million) to
The Bali Sun. feed the monkeys. The idea to plant
Pictures: crops was brought as an alternative
I Wayan Yaika
to limited funds for resources.

Villagers plant yams to From the total 28 acres of land in

feed monkeys in Ubud Ubud Monkey Forest, Gandra plan-
ned to use at least 4 acres to grow
due to lack of the yams.

tourism.
“Two acres have been planted with
the sweet potatoes, and we’ve al-
ready harvested most of them to
feed the monkeys until the situation gets better,” Gandra

added.
However, he admitted that this effort could only provi-
de 10 percent of the total amount needed to feed all the
animals.

They would still need funds for other substitutions such
as corn, banana and papaya from the fresh market.

“We plan to grow other types of fruits in this area in
order to fulfil their needs, so Padangtegal would not be
too dependent on the earnings from tourism to keep the

animals healthy.” Made Gandra concluded.