By Kresensia Risna Efrieno.          

Indonesia is a country that has abundant natural resources, it has even been proven since the colonial era when other countries wanted to control Indonesia’s natural wealth. We should be grateful for that. Do we aware of this extraordinary potency? What can we do about them? Who will manage them or just leave them? This thought became the starting point for Stube-HEMAT as an institution that is 'concerned' with young people to open their awareness of the wealth of this nation and strive for prosperity.

The initiative to review the local food potency became a topic of students' discussion in Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta on Biodiversity: Local Food Initiative (Thursday, 2/6/2022). Students from various regions in Indonesia identified local potency in their area of origin and mapped the products produced there. They also discussed what kind of derivative products could be produced. FX Mujiyono, a practitioner, as a resource person, shared his experience of cultivating local potency and its added value. Pdt. Em. Bambang Sumbodo, M.Min, Stube HEMAT board, and Ariani Narwastujati, S.Pd., S.S., M.Pd., Executive Director of Stube HEMAT also joined the discussion.

At the beginning of the discussion, the students mapped out the unique local potency in their regions. This is the first step to bring students to realize the wealth of local potency that exists in their area. Furthermore, FX Mujiyono revealed that Indonesia is a tropical country rich of biodiversity and mining. There is no natural product that we cannot process, including in the regions. He shared his experiences while working to cultivate local potentials, especially in the province of NTT, such as organic fertilizers and agricultural development, then fermented products from fruits and spices, such as grapes, snake fruit, coffee, cinnamon, and bananas. He chose these materials because of the 3 M principles: Mudah (Easy), Murah (Cheap), and Melimpah (Abundant), like snake fruit. Fermented snake fruit is an alternative during the main harvest so it still gives farmers benefits. Discoveries in local food processing will come from the awareness of the richness of local food and finding out what can be produced as derivative products. These products also have the opportunity to enter the global market, from a local spirit to a global one.

The participants enthusiastically listened to the speakers and responded with questions and opinions, such as Mensi, a student from Sumba, NTT sharing her experiences. “In my place, there are many cashews, but we only sell the nuts because we do not know how to process the fruit to produce something new. We often burn cashews to produce oil.” Selvi Lum, another participant from Aru Island told the story of king fruit and 'tongki' fruit from mangroves that are easily found in coastal areas. She did not know how to process it to have added value.

This new knowledge encouraged students to take advantage of local potency and added value as an important point to exist and be independent. Indonesia actually has natural resources that can be processed to have added value, but it’s still a question of whether we want to realize and learn further about it? ***