Food security in Papua

For decades, food imported from other parts of Indonesia has been a mainstay for many communities in Papua Pegunungan (Papua Highlands). Long supply chains, rough terrain, and transportation expenses have …

As the afternoon sun began to soften over the courtyard of the Papua Provincial Legislative Council (DPR Papua) building in Jayapura, the rows of exhibition tents were filled with the …

Chritoforus A. Mahuse could hardly contain his excitement when the first rice harvest came to the long idle land. The Indigenous Papuan customary landowner stood in the newly harvested fields …

As visitors gathered around traditional cooking demonstrations, the smell of roasted fish wafted through the festival grounds in Sorong. Nearby, women from Indigenous communities laid out carefully local ingredients that …

Yasinta Moiwend, better known in Merauke as Mama Sinta, knew her stance on the government’s food estate project would attract attention when she made it public earlier this year. The …

Before rice became the staple food of Indonesia, communities throughout Papua relied on another crop to support their daily lives. In the heart of the wetlands and river basins grew …

Farmers across much of Papua are already at work before dawn. Rice fields in newly opened agricultural areas in the lowland of South Papua. In the fertile valleys of the …

Long before the debate reached social media and documentary films, farmers in parts of Papua were already talking about something more immediate: would they finally have enough land, irrigation, machinery, …

From the south of Papua, where there are vast stretches of flat land and rivers that flow into the Arafura Sea, Indonesia’s ambitious food estate project is slowly taking form. …

At traditional markets across parts of Papua, people rarely discuss agricultural policy. They discuss prices. How much rice costs this week. They also discuss whether transport expenses have increased again. …