On 26 September 2023, SHEEP Indonesia Foundation (YSI) together with Mira Kaddi Hari Community Based Organisation (OMB) held a discussion and exchange of opinions in Mehona Village, Sabu Liae District, Sabu Raijua Regency. The discussion discussed joint strategies to encourage communities to increase local food consumption and discuss post-harvest processing strategies for field school commodities.
Starting the activity, Andreas Subiyono while monitoring in the field invited all OMB members and village officials of the Mehona Village community to support local food consumption; he explained the advantages of local food which has high nutritional content, low sugar and is able to be a solution to avoid dependence on external food supplies, especially in situations of food crises and also many mass-produced foods in factories.
Mehona Village Chief Wilfridus Wila Talo thanked SHEEP Indonesia Foundation for working with Mehona Village in the local food consumption campaign. He affirmed his intention to continue campaigning for the importance of local food consumption; echoing the village head's statement Markus Djara Lulu, OMB member and former Mehona Village Head, hoped that SHEEP Indonesia Foundation could focus more on educating and engaging the younger generation to increase their understanding of the importance of consuming local food.
The field school in Mehona village has succeeded in raising community awareness about the importance of local food. One of the achievements is the increased popularity of sorghum commodity in the village. This success is the result of ongoing efforts made by OMB Mira Kaddi Hari through campaigns and education at the family level, as well as support from SHEEP Indonesia Foundation and the Village Government through banners and radio advertisements. Some members of the Sustainable Community Organisation (CSO) have taken the initiative and developed local food processing, especially sorghum-based, into processed products such as rempeyek, pastries, sago and wolappa. They did this with the aim of increasing the added value of these commodities.
Following up on the discussion; OMB together with the Village Government and SHEEP Indonesia Foundation committed to providing post-harvest training to the village community and farmers. This training will focus on the processing of sorghum rice, flour, cereals, and the provision of necessary financing for post-harvest equipment. In addition, the Mehona Village Government will allocate a fund of 15 million rupiah to support the post-harvest training to be conducted by OMB and the village community as part of the commitment to develop the existing potential in Mehona.