goodmorningpapua.com – A Chief Representative of UN Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO) Rajendra Aryal visited Papua this week to explore the potential for collaboration with communities and local authorities to support farmers in the province.
The visit was carried out with officials from the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning (ATR/BPN) and the Ministry of Agriculture and facilitated by the Papua Strategic Analysis (APS), based on FAO Indonesia’s statement, Saturday (10/12).
One of the main objectives of the visit was to see opportunities for the development and diversification of local food production in Papua from various sources, including non-timber forest products.
“This is an opportunity to explore possible collaborations to add to the resilience of local farmers by building sustainable efforts and improving their livelihoods,” said Aryal.
The current world food system, for him, deals with many obstacles. The Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine are seriously affecting the global food system.
“We are facing the 5F crisis, namely food, fuel, finance, feed and fertilizer, and this is the time to look for innovative approaches to transform the food-agriculture system. Indonesia has plants. alternatives that can be explored further,” said Aryal.
“Sago has the potential as an alternative flour as a gluten-free product, and this could also be for the benefit of the local population. Sago is part of the life of the local people here,” he added.
In Papua, Aryal made courtesy visits to the district heads of Jayapura and Yahukimo, conducted field visits, and held technical discussions with Papuan academics at Cendrawasih University and Bappeda.
The discussion mainly focused on increasing farmer resilience, diversifying food production and consumption, strengthening food reserves, transferring technical knowledge, and promoting agricultural exports in collaboration with indigenous peoples as a new platform.
Aryal said that working with indigenous peoples remains key in Papua and FAO has extensive experience in doing so.
“We need to work with the community, relevant authorities, international development partners and other stakeholders to provide direct benefits to the community. Therefore, coordination and harmonization remain very important in this effort,” he said. Papua is one of the tropical paradises in Indonesia located at the eastern end of Indonesian territory with natural resources of high economic and strategic value.