UBI JALAR AND PAPUAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

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1 OXFAM CASE STUDY Counting the harvest. Oxfam s Ubi jalar (sweet potato) programme is reinvigorating the rural economy in Papua s highlands and protecting a centuries old way of life. UBI JALAR AND PAPUAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT A source of life and livelihood for the Papuan people Working through local partner Yayasan Pendidikan Usaha Mandiri (YAPUM), Oxfam is encouraging a sweet potato renaissance in the highlands of Jayawijaya District, Papua. By equipping subsistence farmers with new skills, the Ubi Jalar project is building stronger local economies, reinforcing the use of a traditional crop, helping crop diversification and playing a critical role in enhancing the region s food security.

2 INTRODUCTION Indigenous communities in Papua, a province in the western part of the island of New Guinea, are adapting to mounting pressures on their traditional way of life. For me knowledge is everything. Wun, sweet potato farmer. Papua s rich natural resources are attracting an increasing number of Indonesian migrants to work in the mining, timber, fishing and service industries. Almost half of Papua s population is now non-indigenous. This threatens the survival of farming techniques that have sustained rural communities for centuries. Sweet potato and companion pig farming used to be the reliable and preferred sources of food in Papua. However the convenience of rice, brought in by Indonesian migrants and subsidised by the Government of Indonesia, has seen the sweet potato crop lose some of its popularity. Over time people... start to believe because it is inexpensive, sweet potato is an inferior food item and can make people who consume it dull and poor, says Kiloner Wenda, author and Oxfam staff member. Rice is not only replacing the traditional sweet potato but it is perceived as having more status. The ability to buy rice has become an indicator of wealth. However the long-term rice subsidy has been reduced and now rice costs four to five times more in Papua than in other parts of Indonesia. It also requires cash incomes not always available to villagers. 2

3 THE UBI PROJECT The Ubi Project introduces new ways of looking at agriculture and income generation, including adding value to products, and offers a way to increase and diversify incomes for indigenous Papuan farmers. The widespread enthusiasm for the project means 226 farmer groups have agreed to work in a coordinated way to make sure they stagger their planting and harvesting. This way they won t flood the market simultaneously and drive prices down. The production is aimed locally at first, in an effort to satisfy local consumption, provide feed for pigs and for ceremonial uses such as compensation. Yayasan Pendidikan Usaha Mandiri (Independent Business Education Foundation, YAPUM) and the farmer groups have worked on 20 collection points across the Central Highlands of Papua to buy the surplus ubi production. The collection points have been sited close to local transport and with storage space. The idea is that over time these will become local markets for people to buy, sell and barter all sorts of products. The groups at the collection points will buy the excess crop for 4000 Rupiah per kilo and on-sell to YAPUM for 5000 per kilo. YAPUM will sell the ubi for 6000 per kilo with the profit going into marketing and training. But equally important is the money that flows directly back into the community as a result of selling the crop. 3

4 A study in the Musaima area by Kiloner Wenda of Oxfam shows only 15% of the cost of growing ubi is spent outside the community on materials and transport. The other 85% goes into building fences, ground preparation, planting, weeding and harvesting, all of which require intensive local labour, thus spreading the benefits of the crop throughout the community. Each ubi bed is normally harvested six times during a year before it s completely replanted because the tubers don t all mature at the same time. This means activity is spread throughout the year and, if the crop can be sold, it also means regular income. BENEFITS OF THE PAPUAN ENTERPRISE PROGRAMME The Ubi Project aims to: Improve farming techniques for the production of sweet potato, Improve processing and preservation techniques, Enable access to micro-scale financial services so new land can be opened up, Increase access to local and regional markets and Increase government and private sector support for Papuan business enterprises to facilitate growth. Not only is sweet potato being farmed less in Papua, the farmers are not coordinated and prices for the crops vary, yielding little income for the communities. 4

5 The Ubi Project runs workshops through its partner YAPUM to show farmers the benefits of returning to their traditional crop and working together to add value to it. In the central mountain range these ideas are already leading to a new approach. Oxfam and YAPUM have been working with community members in this area to provide mentoring for farmers. One of the attractions of the Papuan Enterprise approach is that it s holistic. It is a multi-layered approach a journey from planting to marketing and all the steps in between. On the land, the project has introduced intercropping of other vegetables such as corn, peanut, soybeans and cabbage between the ubi rows, which has opened ways to provide additional income between harvests. Data from the Oxfam and YAPUM programme shows that five hectares of land planted in sweet potato could yield revenue of as much as 725,000,000 Indonesian Rupiahs (NZ$94,000) a year, with costs of just 160,000,000 (NZ$21,000) a year. Potential income from five hectares with six harvests during the year, if the entire crop was sold at a price of 5000 Rupiahs per kilo, was: Harvests 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Total Tonnes Income ($NZ) $26,000 $26,000 $19,500 $13,000 $6500 $3000 $94,000 By working in small farmer groups or cooperatives, farmers can plan their harvesting so there is a consistent supply of the crop. Part of the project also involves learning skills in weighing to get standard units of ubi for selling. This, and accurate pricing, mean sellers are getting consistent prices for the first time. Till now, ubi was sold by the tumpuk (pile) and noken (traditional string bag). Accordingly the quantities varied and prices were inconsistent. The change from noken and pile measures to weighing by scales is a cultural attitudinal shift of huge significance that will have consequences on the income women receive from ubi sales. The Ubi Project encourages farmers to add value to their crops. Basic technology enables them to transform the vegetable into a flour that the village women use to make cakes, cookies, bread and noodles. This opens up a new income stream from selling the products and saves having to spend money on expensive imported goods. All initiatives of the programme put equal emphasis on business and social objectives. An example of this is by ensuring that women are actively involved in the business development, a key factor in poverty reduction, and also by collaborating with local government and other organisations in promoting a positive environment for development of businesses in the regions. 5

6 THE MULTI LAYERED APPROACH Adding value to their staple crop is just one of many steps Oxfam is taking to help grow a sustainable future for people in these rural areas of Papua. But many factors are needed to ensure such enterprises have longevity and the Ubi Enterprise Project encompasses these as well. Land management The project provides incentives for people to develop fallow land by training in intercropping of ubi. It provides training in marketing and small business management, as well as helping clans to work in organised ways similar to cooperatives. Involving local Government Oxfam through YAPUM involves the local government departments of Agriculture, Education, Health and Trade at every step, sharing plans and involving officials in workshops and training. The local government has been so impressed with what has been achieved so far that it has invested in machinery to help produce flour from ubi. Partners in business The project is bringing local businesses and entrepreneurs together with community groups and villages who have formed enterprises. This is helping to open up markets for value-added products. Financial accounting workshops YAPUM helps groups work out how to manage ubi farming in a businesslike manner so that income is invested for cropping and equipment over a sustainable period. Seed bank The Ubi project is establishing a seed bank to protect up to 83 varieties of sweet potato remaining in Papua. This has special cultural and food security implications for Papuans. Peace building The ubi has traditionally been an important crop used for mediating intertribal disputes. In the past quantities of sweet potato were used to an intermediary offering to settle differences. The Ubi project is restoring the place of sweet potato in peace building between tribes. Monitoring and Evaluation expertise The project helps Papuan farmers learn from successes and change practices that are failing their business. 6

7 THE PEOPLE The project is capturing the imagination of farmers, small businesses and local government. Sarlota Ota Italay 47-year-old Sarlota Ota Italay of Musaima farmed with irregular income to support her six-member family. Since becoming part of the Ubi project she has opened up her 1000 square metre property to farm cabbage, bean leaves, little mustard greens, cucumber and spinach supplementing a larger crop of sweet potato which can be harvested as tubers and leaves. By selling locally she can put profit back into the farm while growing her business. Weonggen Kogoya Another sweet potato farmer who is participating in the programme is Wunanggen Kogoya (Wun) from Baliem, where the project began. Sixty-five-year-old Weonggen is a Papuan farmer who helps support a family of five on a thousand square metres of land. By working with Oxfam and YAPUM he is now cross cropping with cucumber, cabbage, bean leaves, little mustard greens and spinach supplementing a larger crop of sweet potato which can be harvested as tubers and leaves. His income is now more certain and regular. All information and training from Oxfam is very important for me, but more important is to practice what we have got through training, he says. I do not want to cry for money and tools, for me knowledge is everything. That is why I practiced soon after that, then I transferred it to my family and group members. They have really appreciated it since they have seen what I already achieved. Wun, his family group, and a 15-strong women s group in his village have used profit from extra crops to open kiosks where they sell produce to surrounding villages. Value is added to the crops by making and selling chips from the sweet potatoes. This gave spirit for group members to move forward and keep trying, he says. Oxfam keeps supporting us through training. The most significant change that has happened to me is that now I have adequate knowledge on sweet potato development and business enterprise. Now I have many kiosks, well-produced sweet potato fields, and now we even have a cooperative in my village. If we measure the profit that me and my group already earned from sweet potatoes and kiosks [it is] about IDR 157,000,000 (NZ$20,000). The enterprise development approach used by YAPUM and Oxfam is developing a partnership programme between the government, Oxfam and YAPUM. Ir. Paul Sarira, head of Estates and Food for Jayawijaya District, has 7

8 supported YAPUM since For years I have had difficulty implementing government programmes into the community, now this approach by YAPUM and Oxfam with sweet potato provides a model and partnership which the government can use to increase the incomes and benefit the people. The coordination of the local partner, farmers, small business and local government in Papua is growing the success of the Oxfam enterprise development programme and will strengthen its long-term sustainability. 8

9 Oxfam New Zealand September 2012 This case study was written by Adele Broadbent and Oxfam acknowledges the assistance of Michael Riach in its production. For further information on the issues raised in this paper please This publication is copyright but the text may be used free of charge for the purposes of advocacy, campaigning, education, and research, provided that the source is acknowledged in full. The copyright holder requests that all such use be registered with them for impact assessment purposes. For copying in any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, permission must be secured and a fee may be charged. michael.smith@oxfam.org.nz. The information in this publication is correct at the time of going to press. Published by Oxfam New Zealand Oxfam New Zealand, Level 1, 14 West Street, Newton, Auckland OXFAM Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organisations networked together in 92 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty. Please write to any of the agencies for further information, or visit 9