Agricultural Ethnography of Dieng Community: Local Knowledge of Dieng Wetan in Facing the Impact of Bun Upas on Agricultural Plants

Dieng is one of the areas in Wonosobo Regency, which is located in the highlands. In majority, the Dieng people work a lot in agriculture. Many plants such as potatoes and vegetables are planted in the Dieng area. The phenomenon of bun upas or freezing of dew in the morning often occurs in Dieng throughout the dry season which is expected to reduce the temperature quite drastically to below zero degrees Celsius. This certainly has an effect on agriculture which has been damaged by the disaster. Data collection is done through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. Informants in this study are the people of Dieng Wetan who worked as farmers. The results showed that: 1) The phenomenon of bun upas caused damage to several crops such as potatoes, cabbage and carica so that the farming community in Dieng Wetan suffered considerable time, energy and economic losses; 2) local knowledge developed in the Dieng Wetan community in the face of bun upas is carried out by checking the temperature every morning to the field, using sprinkle to melt the ice attached to the plants, reducing the area cultivated during the bun upas season, and developing plant species the more resistant bun upas, namely carrots. Local knowledge that develops in the farming community has not been fully able to overcome the impact of the bun upas, but at least minimizes the impacts that occur in the life of agriculture in Dieng Wetan.