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Reviving edible wild plants for food and nutrition sovereignty

Mantasa works with indigenous and local communities in various regions in Indonesia, especially with women and youth groups, to uphold their food and nutrition sovereignty through the utilization of edible wild plants which are currently being increasingly forgotten.

Impact

25,000

local and indigenous communities improved their awareness of edible wild plants and consume them in their diet

700

species of edible wild plants and traditional food knowledge are identified

500

indigenous women and youth are involved in participatory research and recognize their important role in food system

Our Activities

Research

We conduct multidisciplinary research which includes food and nutrition science, ethnobotany, anthropology and gender. Apart from collaborating with academics and research institutions, we also carry out participatory research with the community.

Community Development

Various trainings and workshops with themes around food and nutrition, natural resource management, agroecology and ecofeminism are carried out with indigenous and local communities. Community assistance is also carried out regularly to get the change desired based on community’s needs.

Exposure

Various activities to increase the exposure of the impact of our projects together with the community were carried out. We also collaborate with the media to cover our activities to build communities’ awareness about the issues we carry. 

Testimonials

“I never thought that my knowledge of traditional recipes from my village turned out to be valuable knowledge and have to be collected and written down because it is part of my identity as the indigenous people of Saga.”

Mama Yohana Bapu
Saga indigenous village,
East Nusa Tenggara

“We don’t like using seeds from the government and prefer to use local seeds because their legs are long so it’s hard for the chickens to eat the seeds. Now I know the traditional ways we use to grow our food is called agroecology and after this training I will pay more attention to local seeds which are still abundant in the village.”

Mama Meri
Talwai indigenous village,
East Nusa Tenggara

“This participatory research workshop not only made me aware of how rich my village is, but also gave me the skills to gather information from the elders so that I understand my village history better and feel proud of my identity as part of an indigenous community.”

Enol
Saga indigenous village,
East Nusa Tenggara

Our Partners