MIMIKA, WEST PAPUA – One of the natural resources owned by Papua and Mimika is ant nests, in Mimika this plant can be found in the mangrove forest of Pomako Harbor. Mama Felisitas Tawer sees the business potential of this anthill and has been in the business for ten years. Mama Felisitas Tawer is a regular at the Central Market because she always sells ant nests that have been dried and packaged in plastic. Mama Felisitas’ customers come from all walks of life, namely:
- Papuans,
- Doctors,
- Flight attendants,
- Pilots from various countries such as France, the Netherlands, China and Taiwan.
“My income every day is uncertain but I already have customers. If I used to sell at the Old Market, I could earn up to 15 million because I sold there myself, but since moving to Pasar Baru, I got the biggest 10 million from Air Fast pilots who came and they were from France, the Netherlands, China and Taiwan, there were also doctors from RSMM who bought 10 packs,” said Mama Felisitas Tawer.
According to Mama Felisitas’ testimony, one of her buyers has uterine cancer and always buys and consumes ant nests, the mother is desperate because she has been diagnosed with uterine cancer and asks Mama Felisitas for ant nests to be consumed as medicine, after some time impurities such as the shape of the roots come out through the vagina along with blood and pus. After that, the buyer of the nest was declared cured, “this anthill is rich in benefits, actually it can cure all diseases because it is from nature but then doctors limit it to 32 diseases only,” said Mama Felisitas Tawer.
Mama Felisitas said that from selling ant nests she was able to send her four children to school, build a house and buy land, “I received a lot of guidance from the Mimika Cooperative Office, thanks to them I was taught how businesses can develop, they also provided 5 million in funding assistance. I also received 2 million from the ministry and we processed the funds again,” said Mama Felisitas Tawer.
Mama Felisitas explained the process of making dried ant nests, first the plants are taken from the mangrove forest at Pomako Port, then sent to Timikan and when they arrive in Timika they cannot be stored for long, they must be skinned and sliced immediately in order to get satisfactory results, namely red in color and then dried in the sun when it is hot, if the color is black it means it has been exposed to rain and after drying it is packaged in plastic and given a sticker, one package or per kilogram of ant nests is sold for IDR 100,000.
Ant nests can be consumed by taking 3-4 pieces then washed and boiled with four glasses of water until leaving 2 glasses then filtered and drunk while warm and ant nests can be consumed by adults and children.
