By: Naomi, Bumi Lestari Institute
Wunu Hiwal felt called to plant local food typical of his area in Ndapayami Village, Kanatang District, East Sumba Regency. After retiring from his position as Secretary of Ndapayami Village, Wunu actively filled his free time by farming. He is now actively developing his agricultural land into one of the pilot locations for local food crop practices. Various tuber plants such as taro and cassava grow well on his land.
Wunu started planting local food on her land since December 2022 until now. She started farming with a land area of 4 ares. Wunu's efforts were not in vain. Now the area of her land has grown to 8 ares.
"Eating sweet potatoes and corn rice makes you feel fuller than eating rice. Apart from that, this local food has better nutritional value," said Wunu.
Wunu's enthusiasm for replanting local food crops stems from a noble ideal. He wants to help the residents of Ndapayami Village meet their daily basic food needs. So far, the residents of Ndapayami Village have had to spend more money to buy rice at a market far from the village. This condition is quite burdensome because many of them still live below the poverty line.
Wunu's consistency deserves a thumbs up because her journey in farming was not always smooth. She had to experience harvests that were not as expected several times. However, thanks to her patience, her harvests bore sweet fruit with quality that continued to improve.
Wunu, supported by Bumi Lestari Institution and KEMITRAAN through the ESTUNGKARA Program, also took the initiative to revive local foods such as tubers as staple foods. Thus, villagers are not fully dependent on rice which is quite expensive to buy. They can now consume local foods grown in their yards when they need staple foods.
Indirectly, Wunu has also revived the local food sovereignty that was lost. There are many benefits to be gained from consuming local food. In addition to being more economical, the nutritional content obtained is also more complete. This
"I hope that Bumi Lestari Institute can provide better assistance and training on local food to more communities because Ndapayami Village has great potential," said Wunu.
Mama Damaris, Wunu's wife, said the same thing. She said local foods such as tubers are very good for children, babies, and toddlers, because their nutritional content can help children's growth and development.
"Tubers are always prepared as food for babies, toddlers and children during the Additional Food Provision (PMT) at Posyandu activities. In addition, cassava and taro can be used as alternative foods so as not to depend on rice alone," said Damaris.
