Direct Talk

Indonesia is an agricultural powerhouse -

throughout the archipelago, stretching about
5,000 kilometers from west to east,

it includes a variety of farm produce.

There are many unique items which have
formed its traditional food cultures.

However, not all those items are reaching
the markets and available to consumers –

There are many "forgotten foods"
due to various reasons.

Social entrepreneur Helianti Hilman has tried
to solve this issue with the farmers,

by developing new markets
for such items of farm produce

both domestically and internationally.

Helianti has tried to revitalize
Indonesia's "Food Biodiversity" nationwide

by re-evaluating the values
of forgotten farm produce,

such as grains, spices, and condiments
inherited in each region.

What we're facing is an identity and
knowledge crisis regarding our food cultures.

How we rebrand and revive our inherited
food culture is very important.

We hear the vision of Helianti,
who aims to achieve a richer food culture

through reviving "food biodiversity."

Reviving Food Biodiversity

This is the "garden store"
of Helianti's company

located in the suburbs of Jakarta,
Indonesia's capital city.

On farmland of about 3 hectares,

more than 150 kinds of unique
farm produce are cultivated,

such as Rosella - grown in tropical areas
and known as a tea ingredient

and "Kunyit," which is vital
for traditional herbal drinks.

This is the "showcase" for farm produce
with features Helianti values.

But not all those items of farm produce
are available in local markets nowadays.

One of the examples is this chili named
"Cabe Jawa" or "Long Pepper"

which was often used for stir-fried cooking
in the past but has becomes difficult to find.

There are many items that
nobody grows now.

I believe it's important to preserve
the farm produce inherited from our ancestors.

Indonesia has a lot of islands – about 17,000.

We have very diverse natural landscapes
from the sea and coast.

We also have peatland areas,
mangrove forest areas, rain forests,

and volcanic highlands, including dry areas.

It's interesting that
every landscape or natural ecosystem

has very abundant food sources.

Our chef friends from Papua
told us in the jungle -

When we enter the forest, it's like
entering a supermarket without a bill!

That's because they keep their knowledge
on what can be eaten there.

But we no longer have knowledge
about the natural food ingredients

existing around us.

In the supermarket, the same items
are constantly available:

the same vegetables, same spices,
and same protein ingredients.

Although our range of choices is much wider,
only limited choices are given.

To deliver a variety of
farm produce to the market,

Helianti established the brand
named "Javara" –

meaning "champion" in a local dialect.

Since its launch 16 years ago,
the brand has worked with around 50,000 farmers

to produce more than 700 products.

They are distributed to markets
as well as sold online.

One type of unique products is
the assortment of traditional rice –

with varieties of shapes and colours,

and unfamiliar types of spices from
various regions are also attractive.

As most produces obtains an organic
certificate, the business has grown,

with exports to more than 15 countries today.

I believe that these products
are something that

Indonesian pride.

I was very impressed with
her work and her vision.

She is helping to support farmers,
create sustainable farming practices.

Helianti has made a way to purchase
farm produce at a fair price from farmers

who were often being exploited
and pushed into poverty.

These farm items which I regard as treasures,

are scattered in remote areas
across the archipelago

such as in the jungle forest areas,
in the mangroves areas, and so on

Communities in those areas don't know
how to access the market

and the extraordinary potential
if their produce is delivered to the market.

So, our task is building bridges
between farmers and market,

through innovation, rebranding,
distribution and consumer education.

Indonesia has embraced cultural diversity with
its national motto of "Unity in Diversity."

But Helianti points out that
the agricultural developments

have struggled with dull uniformity.

One notable example is rice.

As the Indonesian staple food,

it has been cultivated on a massive scale
as a national program.

Thanks to the forcibly introduced
specific grain with "monoculture"

via the "Green Revolution" of
then-President Soeharto's regime,

to rapidly increase food production

rice farmers once growing
varieties of rice in each region

were forced into hardship,
according to Helianti.

At that time, everybody was forced
to plant the new rice

because it could be harvested faster
with higher productivity.

Many farmers were affected by the ban,

because they opposed
the program to plant new rice,

and some were even imprisoned.

That was the beginning of
the disappearance of ancient types of rice.

I learned from old farmers that
Indonesia had 7,000 types of rice

with different colours, textures,
aromas, tastes, and health benefits.

Their growing environments
were also different.

Aside from rice growing
in paddy fields or dry fields,

there was also rice growing in sand, on
the edge of the beach, or even in seawater.

The rice we know is white, red and black
but there are also pink or purple ones.

Some farmers planted a collection
of ancient rice plants in their pots –

just to ensure that
those seeds didn't go extinct.

That's why we start selling those
precious and ancient rice collections

in one basket for our customers.

Aside from the revival
of various types of rice,

Helianti has also put her efforts into
re-evaluating alternative staple foods

and carbohydrate resources.

On this day, Helianti visited the Papua region,
which is about 3,000 kilometres from Jakarta.

Local village women taught
her about the Sago starches

that have traditionally
been consumed in the area.

This is harvested from Sago palm.
You can create many foods from it.

Sago palm shoot is
sweet and crunchy.

By getting away from eating only rice,

Helianti believes it helps to
establishing better food security

and tackle malnutrition
and stunting in regional areas.

Food security cannot be solved
by increasing imports

but should be solved by building
food sovereignty in each region -

based on their local
cultural food ingredients.

If the conditions are very dry,
we can plant sorghum.

If the weather is very wet, we can plant
rice of a type that tolerates water.

Or, we can also plant tubers.

Everything must be contextual, maybe
with corn, sweet potatoes, and cassava.

Even some tribal people eat breadfruit

because that's their traditional
carbohydrate resource.

Bananas are also good
as they have high carbohydrate content.

Helianti was born in 1971,
in the eastern part of Java Island.

She had an agronomist father
and a former prosecutor mother.

At the national coffee plantation
where her father was assigned,

Helianti learned how her parents
were caring for the poor workers.

The coffee plantation workers
at that time ate just rice and salt.

That's the only thing they could afford
as they were very poor.

Eventually, my mom started teaching
the workers' wives

how to cultivate vegetables,

keep fish, and look after chickens.

She did whatever she could,

such as selling the cultivated
vegetables to the town

to give the workers a better income.

I was helping to count the number of
vegetable baskets put on to the truck.

In 1990s, Helianti studied in the UK
and obtained a master's degree in law.

After returning to Indonesia,

she started working as a lawyer
specializing in intellectual property rights.

A turning point came in the mid-2000s,

when she was asked by a friend
to do "pro bono" work,

giving legal advice to poor farmers.

By witnessing the harsh situations
in which farmers were often being exploited,

her research trips reminded her
of her younger days

with her parents who took care of the poor.

Companies and middlemen were really pressing
the price, and then selling at a higher price.

Farmers didn't get anything -

that was the core problem.

After the produce had already been taken,

they would often say that
they'd cut the payment by 50%

because the quality was bad

I interacted with farmers for three months,
travelling to research different regions.

At the end of the journey,
my husband told me,

"Farmers don't need a lawyer,

they need an access to a market
that is fair and respectful to them."

So, I started to face a completely
different challenge in an unfamiliar industry

by totally changing my profession.

I could give birth to Javara
because I was blank.

I didn't know the industry
at all and I was reckless.

That's why I could take a path
that others never take.

Helianti has also tried to save
traditional production methods

which have gone almost extinct.

Given the seawater with rich minerals,

salt making has been a traditional
way of life for a long time.

But the sales price is low
despite the hard labour,

and the tradition was dying out.

A turning point for Wayan Kanten
and his colleagues,

was the encounter with Helianti

as she saw great potential
in the high quality of the salt

and the artisanal way of making it,

so Javara helped to expand
its market rapidly.

A significant product is the special
crystallized salt - called "pyramid salt."

As a rare item worldwide, it has been
exported to many countries.

Once, our salt making tradition
was disappearing.

But, we want to revive it
with Helianti's Javara.

Their way of making artisanal salts
has attracted attention from abroad

and many people visit
their production sites as well.

Our salt products took part in
a competition abroad and got an award.

Such small achievements are
building the confidence of producers.

They don't need something big.

They just need the proof that
what they produce is valuable.

What we want to build is
entrepreneurship at local levels,

so that they won't be merely
commodity producers.

Helianti's activities have attracted
attention even from the United Nations.

In 2019, she was appointed as an advocate
for the "eTrade for Women" initiative

of the UN's trade and development body

to empower women entrepreneurs
in developing nations.

What is Helianti's motto as a social
entrepreneur who keeps on challenging?

Sustaining food culture and
biodiversity heritage

for healthier people, happier farmers,

and sustaining the Planet Earth
for generations to come.

I always hope that we will
never forget the inspiration

we can get from the richness of
our own cultures and identities.

We must appreciate what
Nature has given to us.

I believe it is a real asset for our future.

Our goals never have an end,
as they are always evolving.

So, for me, challenging is
a never-ending process.