Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1700 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2855 (Online) Vol.6, No.6, 2015 14 Agroecotourism Development for Community Empowerment and Strengthening Social Capital in Pemo Village, Kelimutu Sub- District, Ende District, Indonesia Imaculata Fatima 1* Wayan Windia 2 Ketut Suamba 2 1.PhD Agricultural Sciences Student, Graduate Program, University of Udayana, Indonesia 2.Faculty of Agriculture, Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia *E-mail of the corresponding author: imaculataf@yahoo.com Abstract The purpose of this study was: (1) to describe the development of agroecotourism in the aspects of the mindset, norms and artifacts as elements of community empowerment; (2) to describe patterns or forms of social capital in the developmentof agroecotourism as a form of sustainable tourism .Elements of social capital that were considered were: the system of values, human resource competencies, social management, social organization, social structure, leadership, and good governance. Through descriptive analysis, observations and interviews several findings were obtained: a) community empowerment through the agroecotourism development has not been run optimally; b) low competence of human capital; c) initiatives are top-down; d) lack of social capital socialization resulted in the many missing value systems in the community; e) development of agroecotourism seems redundant because the strengthening of social capital is not yet a consideration for implementation.Elements of value system which are necessary for social capital for community empowerment are: a sense of love, trust, self-esteem, empathy, honesty, openness, mutual sharing, altruism, visionary, and rationality; while advancement in meeting the material needs of the people is the initiative from the community at the grassroots level, a continuous and planned socialization and commitment is required. Keywords: agroecotourism, empowerment, social capital and rural communities 1. Introduction Lake Kelimutu in Ende has three colors which are always changing instantaneously as the weather changes. These have made the Lake a tourist attraction receiving many foreign and domestic tourists, bringing in revenue to Ende Regency. As the service industry round the Lake grows so has the activities. The growth of agricultural activities round the Lake has slowly triggered the growth of another activity, that of agri tourism or agroecotourism. Pemo Village is a village round Lake Kelimutu, where a lot activities to develop agroecotourism as a sustainable tourism activity is going on albeit with challenges. Some of the changes include the fact that; there is little involvement of the community in the conservation of natural resources within Lake Kelimutu National Park, and the fact that most development activities in the area are still top down. The agricultural activities in Pemo village that attract interests of tourists are mainly horticultural and agroforestry. Agroecotourism in Pemo village as social capital strengthening-based community empowerment has been relevant and is considered to be very urgent. Kostov and Lingrad (2001) argue that rural development in the future requires a new approach and social capital strengthening-based community empowerment is very essential. (Mubyarto, 2002). The purpose of this study is to formulate a model of social capital strengthening in the empowerment of rural communities so that the agroecotourism management can support sustainable rural development. The research objectives are: (1) to describe agroecotourism from the aspect of mindset, norms, artifact and conditions of social capital of Pemo village community; (2) to describe patterns or forms of social capital based on cultural values in the development of agroecotourism. 2. Conceptual Framework of The Study The intimate relationship between social capital and agroecotourism management in Kelimutu region is depicted in Figure 1. The model of empowerment of farmer groups in the management of agroecotourism in Kelimutu region can be developed by using a framework as shown in Figure 1. In general, the model of agroecotourism development in Indonesia which was made by the government has been more focused on providing physical assistance to farmers and piloting of physical activity in the field. Activities that are often performed are only limited to the improvement of the quality of human capital in the form of improvement of science and technology. Theoretically, the effort of community empowerment in the management of agroecotourism made by the government for the villagers underestimates the strengthening of local social capital.