Nutmeg skin may be useless for most people, but not for the female farmers of the Bayang Bungo Indah (BBI) Forest Farmers Group (KTH) in Bayang District, Pesisir Selatan, West Sumatra.
Since the group received a social forestry permit in 2017, nutmeg skins have been turned into syrup and made money.
It started when Sri Hartati, the head of Bayang Bungo, visited the female farmers in Kapujan, Pesisir Selatan one by one.
"We go door to door, we invite them to participate in training. Some want it, some don't. From the initial 105 people, now there are 66 active members," he said.
From active members, they collect membership fees of Rp100,000 at the beginning of registration. Furthermore, for production purposes, members pay a monthly fee of Rp12,000 per month.
With the assistance of Walhi, this group has succeeded in making syrup from nutmeg skin and marketing it. Until now, there is at least one famous hotel in Padang City that has made this syrup as a welcome drink.
The result? “Not bad. Now we have eliminated monthly fees because the capital has been collected quite a bit. Even every year we can share bonuses,” said Sri.
In addition to making money, he said, the group, which is currently taking care of the legal entity for the savings and loans cooperative, is also helping to strengthen the self-confidence of female farmers in Kapujan.
By filling their free time collecting nutmeg skins, sorting them, and processing them in the factory, these female farmers also learn about organization.
"From not knowing anything, now they can play a role in village institutions. Usually they are embarrassed to hold meetings, but after this they are brave. True It's not true, the important thing is to say it."
Many obstacles
What Sri and this group have done is not enough. Many farmer groups such as BBI and others who have obtained permits in the social forestry scheme have experienced various obstacles.
At the end of last November, these forest farmer groups gathered in Jakarta and formed the Indonesian Social Forestry Management Association (AP2SI).
After the formation of the association, AP2SI requested the acceleration of the processing of social forestry permits and assistance for groups that had already received permits.
"The achievement of social forestry access is only 25% from the national target. This is quite slow," said Roni Usman Kusuma, who was appointed as the Chairman of AP2SI.
In fact, he said, the government of President Joko Widodo since 2015 has allocated 12.7 million hectares of forest area for the Perhutsos program. The government also includes Perhutsos as a national strategic program as stated in Presidential Regulation Number 56/2018.
Initially, this program was created to reduce land ownership inequality and improve community welfare. It also reduces land conflicts and raises awareness to maintain the sustainability of forest resources.
As of June 2019, it was recorded that social forestry had only reached 3.4 million hectares, involving more than 755,000 families and benefiting around 3 million people.
"The slow achievement of this target is quite unfortunate amidst the high public enthusiasm for this program," said Roni.
Currently, AP2SI comes from 51 KTH managing social forestry areas spread across 17 provinces.
Rusdianto, AP2SI Supervisory Board, said that AP2SI members have accessed or received social forestry permits covering an area of 165,468.15 hectares with 59,285 families as users with various superior products ranging from non-timber forest products, agroforestry, environmental services to nature tourism.
From the results of the AP2SI national meeting, there are seven obstacles faced by social forestry management groups. First, political support from related ministries or institutions and local governments for the social forestry program has not been maximized. Second, bureaucratic services in supporting social forestry for knowledge and assistance.
Third, farmer groups are also constrained in the preparation and implementation of management plans and work plans. Fourth, the question of certainty over the boundaries of the work area. Fifth, minimal production equipment and communication and transportation infrastructure to support social forestry activities.
Sixth, the lack of access and support for financing capital for the management of social forestry by ministries and institutions and seventh, the capacity to develop product and market innovations for forest products and environmental services is still minimal.
"The Perhutsos program is quite good, but it should not stop at providing access to management permits," said Sri, who was appointed to the AP2SI Supervisory Board.
According to him, there needs to be a participatory and integrative management system in the scheme of people's management areas including the power system for granting access, planning and utilization management. Also, the production system of utilization results and consumption system for the use of management and production results.
AP2SI also requested coordination between ministries and institutions with regional governments. According to the representative of the group from North Sumatra, Tajrudin Hasibuan, understanding of social forestry has not been truly understood at the regional government level.
"Before anything else, the local government is already collecting taxes. PNBP (non-tax state revenue-ed)," he said. In fact, the community is still pioneering a business from protecting this forest.
In addition to taxes, forest management communities also face licensing fees that should be eliminated specifically for social forestry scheme licensing. He also
complained that the process of obtaining MUI halal certification for Perhutsos products was still difficult and took a long time.
Therefore, instead of imposing taxes, collecting licensing fees and complicating bureaucracy, AP2SI asks the government to speed up the licensing process by simplifying administration. Also provide assistance in terms of financing and product innovation in order to produce derivative products that have a market.
"For example, we hope that this nutmeg skin syrup can be marketed again in other government institutions," said Sri.
News Source:
December 17, 2019
