Assistance for Residents of Klegung village, Nglipar

 What food plants do you have around your house? It was the question asked by Trustha Rembaka, coordinator of Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta, to the residents of Klegung, Katongan, Nglipar who took part in the Discussion on Domestic Food Security, in collaboration with students of the Field Lecture 56 Institute of Village Development APMD Yogyakarta (28/8/2023). They were enthusiastic about telling about the food plants in their homes, including chilies, mustard greens, eggplant, celery, corn, cassava, papaya, shallots, and animal food sources such as goats, cows and catfish.

The question above opened a discussion on the issue of Food Security in Indonesia which has become an interesting topic of conversation because it is related to various factors, such as increasing population and food needs, decreasing agricultural land area due to changes in the function of agricultural land, the threat of climate change and worse agriculture itself not being a priority for young people to work. However, the world of agriculture will continue to be needed along life.

Furthermore, Trustha explained that according to the regulation of  the government law No. 12 of 2012 concerning Food, Article 1 paragraph 4, Food Security is a condition that food is available for the state and individuals, which is reflected in the availability of sufficient food, both in quantity and quality, safe, diverse, nutritious, equitable and affordable and it does not conflict with people's religion, beliefs and culture, giving  healthy, active and productive life sustainably. The next question is how to meet individual food needs. One alternative is to strengthen household food security by mapping family food needs.

In this mapping process, each participant knows what foods their family often consumes and what they can cultivate as a family or as a local community group. Here, the participants learn about the principle of 'nandur apa sing dipangan, mangan apa sing ditandur' (Javanese) or 'plant what you eat, eat what you plant.'

Trustha also guided participants to learn about the diversity of food from animal sources such as chicken, duck, tilapia, catfish, and beef, as well as plant food sources such as cassava, rice, sweet potato, gembili, mustard greens, papaya, and ginger. Then look at food ingredients based on harvest time, whether daily (eggs), weekly (sprouts, seedbeds), monthly (mustard greens, kale, quarterly: chilies, eggplant, tilapia, catfish), semester (livestock rearing, up to annuals such as fruit). Food diversity is a strengthening element in food security.

At the end of the session and as a follow-up action to maintain domestic food security, participants planned to grow new seeds at their home gardens and some fields. During the discussion, several stories were revealed, such as some families had more harvests, and some others needed certain seeds for their gardens. Interestingly, the participants were encouraged to offer the seeds they owned to be planted by other colleagues.

They actually have knowledge, awareness, willingness to act, and a sense of togetherness. This is the basic element to make domestic food security real. Dusun Klegung can do it!***