Civil society organizations (CSOs) in Sabu Raijua Regency promoted the importance of strengthening local food knowledge through education in schools. The idea was discussed in a meeting involving Ecologica, TBM Amin, Komunitas Iman, Media Pelopor 9, and teachers from SMP Negeri 8 Sabu Barat.

The meeting discussed the importance of integrating local food into the local content curriculum in schools. Participants recognized that community knowledge about local food had developed and been passed down through everyday practices, including production, consumption, and trade. However, this knowledge needed to be introduced to younger generations to remain relevant and prevent the loss of local knowledge.

Findings from Previous Activities

During the discussion, participants reviewed findings from previous activities involving village governments, school representatives, and health cadres. These activities included the dissemination of local food survey results and discussions on public health issues.

One of the key findings was the declining knowledge of local food among younger generations.

Fajar Rizki, a teacher representative, said, “Local food is not simply a regional specialty. It is a source of economic strength, cultural identity, and food security for communities. Developing and consuming local food is a way to maintain food self-reliance and appreciate the potential of our own region. Therefore, it is important to introduce local food to children from an early age and nurture their appreciation for it at school.”

Ramlin Bunga, a representative of Komunitas Iman, a Sabu Raijua CSO working on literacy and education issues, explained the importance of local food knowledge for the community’s resilience.

“Sabu Raijua is an isolated island. When disasters, storms, and prolonged extreme weather occur, food distribution can be disrupted, putting us at risk of food shortages. Therefore, in addition to producing and consuming local food, we need to document knowledge related to its production, consumption, and trade so that it can be passed on to future generations. This is important to prevent food shortages in the future, given the community’s high dependence on food supplies from outside the region,” he said.

Bringing Local Food into the Classroom

The push to develop a local food curriculum was also linked to declining production, consumption, and trade of local food, which had increased the community’s dependence on food products from outside the region.

Local food had become less present in everyday conversations among the people of Sabu. It had also not been fully explored as a potential solution to economic and health challenges. For children and young people in particular, local food had become increasingly unfamiliar due to limited opportunities to learn about it, both at home and at school.

Through classroom learning, children were expected to rediscover the food resources available in their surroundings and understand the processes that shaped the local food system.

Building Collective Action for Policy Change

The meeting was part of efforts by CSOs and other stakeholders in Sabu Raijua to consolidate their efforts by building a shared understanding of the importance of a local food curriculum and identifying joint actions to promote it.

Following the discussion, participants agreed to collect materials on local food produced by CSOs, as well as relevant journals, books, and archival materials. These included learning materials from local food field schools developed by YSI.

Participants also agreed to hold an audience with the Education Office to discuss opportunities for developing and implementing a local food curriculum.

These efforts were expected to strengthen the connection between knowledge rooted in the community and learning processes in schools.