By RIDZKI SIGIT, Gekko Studio-Telapak
Saturday, 12 April in the afternoon. The lovely Bogor Botanical Garden became witness of the big day to promote Dorsata Brand, a new innovative honey product. Organized by Telapak, the Jaringan Madu Hutan Indonesia (JMHI) and NTFP-EP, this coalition has been working to save the Indonesia forest by promoting the use of non-timber forest products.
Although the rains fell in Bogor, it did not dampen the spirits of the children who prepared their special dance for this event. This group of International Elementary School students turned out to be the stars of the show, in their bee costumes, shaking their heads and their hips to the rhythm of music to the delight of about 50 people who attended the reception.
Pak Johnny Utama of Dian Niaga then explained why this coalition has been working for a couple years to establish the honey business line. “We are not only looking for profits from the nature. We established this business to protect the natural forest by developing an incentive scheme for the people. This business is very unique, because the profits from honey selling are being shared – one-third for the community, one-third for assisting NGO and one-third for marketing (Dian Niaga).” One for all, and all for one!
The packaging of Dorsata brand has a professional touch, with its attractive logo and the background story of the honey – the honey is from the forests, harvested by forest-dependent people, and is of the best quality. Dorsata honey also has an edge, having received organic certification from BioCert, a National Food Certification body. Moreover, unlike honey from ‘bee plantations,’ the taste of forest honey is unique and depends on the flower and other forest species consumed by the bees. So honey from Danau Sentarum differs from Sumbawa honey, as well as Sulawesi honey.
All of the Dorsata brand honey is produced by the indigenous people of the preserved forest, including Sentarum Lake National Park in West Kalimantan and other places in Indonesia. For four tons in each harvest, PT Dian Niaga – sole distributor – sells a 300 gram bottle of honey for Rp 75,000 (US$7.89). “We focus on selling to the national market, but we have started to receive orders from Korea and Japan,” said Johnny Utama.
The launching of the Dorsata brand in Bogor Botanical Garden has opened up promotion channels in Bogor areas for JMHI. With a population of nearly one million residents, Bogor is a good distribution point for the brand. “This is the big chance to open people’s minds that honey is a health food with no chemical ingredients,” said Heri Valentinus, the coordinator of JMHI.
A honey talk show
Hosted by Ms. Riyanni Djangkaru, a popular Indonesian television artist, the discussion welcomed speakers from different stakeholder groups: Heri Valentinus (JMHI), Johnny Utama (Dian Niaga), Suwignyo (the Head of Danau Sentarum National Park) and Surianto (a honey collector from Danau Sentarum).
Following the statement of Heri Valentinus, Pak Surianto, a member of Apis dorsata honey collectors group in Sentarum, said they harvested honey from the forest from October and March while relying on freshwater fishing to make a living the rest of the year. Previously the tribe had cut trees down to harvest the honey.
“Local environmental group Riak Bumi taught us how to take honey without destroying the ecosystem … We rely too much on the forest for our livelihood, so we are keeping it safe,” Surianto said.
In response, Pak Suwignyo said the 132,000-hectare forest is the biggest wetland ecosystem in Kalimantan and home to the indigenous Iban and Malay tribes. “We support the environmentalists in training residents on the best way to harvest honey and how to make and install beehives in tree tops … they have an approach of ‘saving the forest through honey production,” Pak Suwignyo said.
Riak Bumi and the NTFP Exchange Programme initiated the formation of the network which has currently expanded to work with honey collectors, cooperatives, local non-governmental organizations and the regional administrations in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Sumatra islands and Sumbawa in West Nusa Tenggara, Valentinus said. During the discussion, a short video clip was shown to demonstrate the real condition of the national park and the honey farmer activities. This video was produced by Gekko Studio, a filmmaker group based in Bogor, and is used by JMHI/Dian Niaga as a promotion tool for scaling-up their marketing, through the AMWAY network.
Honey tasting
After discussions, the time for honey tasting came. All participants were enjoined to taste the various honey from Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumbawa. Which is the best one? Depending on your preference, according to one guest that I interviewed, she said that “All honey has its characteristic, and I want to buy all the bottles!” For those of you who stay in Bogor, the Dorsata brand is already being sold at Telapak Café, Jl. Pajajaran no. 54.
To close the event, Jenne de Beer, Executive Director of NTFP-EP said, “This initiative is a good model for gaining public attention. We can use what the forest has to offer but we should take care of it. We need to give incentives to the community people to start a business model without forgetting the very heart of the business – the forests.”
It’s five o’clock in the afternoon and we must close the celebration with a new spirit in the heart; the starting point is already there, and we will continue to make it bigger and bigger. Congratulations to NTFP-EP, JMHI and its members! Let’s keep this spirit.
Ridzki Sigit, Gekko Studio
Jl. Palem Putri 3 No. 1, Taman Yasmin 5
Bogor, West Java, Indonesia 16112
Tel. +62 251 843151 Email: rrsigit@gmail.com
With some citation from the article titled ‘The Sweetest Way to Save Forests’ written by Theresia Sufa/the Jakarta Post. All photos for this article by Wahyu Widhi.]
