Author: Ric

Last month, in partnership with PT Unimax Power and Frontier Consulting Group, Goducate held the First Indonesia National Public Seminar on Moringa at Menara Peninsula Hotel in Jakarta.

Moringa has been the main commodity that Goducate is popularizing in Indonesia to combat malnutrition of village folk, especially the children. To encourage the planting of Moringa, during the past 3 years the Goducate agriculture team has taught many needy Indonesians in the  islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Sulawesi, Timur, Sumba, Tanjung Pinang, Sulawesi, and Nias how to produce,  process,  and use Moringa as a food supplement.

The topics covered at the seminar were The Perception of Indonesian Consumers Towards Moringa Tree, Moringa Ecology and Production, Harvesting, Processing, and Utilization of Moringa, Benefits from Moringa, Status of the Moringa Industry in Indonesia, Lessons Learned from the Moringaling Philippines Foundation Inc (MPFI), Cutting Edge Technology for Moringa Production, Wine Making from Moringa, Personal Experiences from Using Moringa, and How Kelor (Moringa) is our Best Friend.

This first Indonesian public seminar on Moringa drew very positive reactions from the more than 200 participants. The majority of the participants were academicians, while others were herbal, pharmaceutical, and medical professionals, business persons, and representatives from social organizations and government.

Dr Bernadette Arellano, founding chairperson of MPFI, threw out a challenge to organize a foundation similar to MPFI. This foundation is a network organization serving the moringa supply chain in the Philippines whose members share best practices in their respective areas of expertise. Her challenge was immediately taken up by Mr Handi Irawan, CEO of Frontier Consulting Group, who initiated the formation of the Indonesia Moringa Foundation (IMF), with Prof Gustaff Adolf Wattimena, from Institute Pertanian Bogor, as adviser. To date, 40 individuals and groups have signed in to be part of IMF.

Earlier this year, Goducate launched GMorE (Goducate Moringa Explosion) initiatives to train and assist needy Indonesians in the production, processing, and utilization of Moringa oleifera, a plant with many nutrients. One plan is to partner with farming and business entities in different towns to produce Moringa in land areas of two to five hectares. Goducate’s part is to provide technical assistance and to train the local community.

About a week ago the processing of Moringa by a local partner started in Bandung. Apart from Moringa powder, the other processed products include Moringa coffee, Moringa tea, Moringa leaf extract, and probiotics for foliar spray. This center has a unique set up in that the Moringa trees are intercropped with strawberry and peanuts as cash crop.

To encourage people to use processed Moringa products, we conducted a 3-hour hands-on training on Moringa processing. The highlight of the session was a demonstration on cooking of native chicken with Moringa leaves, ginger, lemon grass, and young chili leaves.

After learning about the nutritional and health benefits of Moringa powder, many of the participants also purchased the Moringa capsules produced by our local partner.