November 11, 2014 edition
The Perfect Sweetsop
A civil servant from Buleleng, Bali, self-taught himself how to crossbreed superior seeds. His influence has spread through Java and Bali.
No ordinary sweetsops hung on the trees at the Superior Fruit nursery in Singaraja, Bali. The skin of the fruit was a striking dark red, not green like the usual sweetsops (annona squamosa) found in Indonesia, and neither was it covered in bumps. Instead the surface was smooth with little dots. When it was broken open, the texture of the flesh was more like a common sweetsop, clear white in color. The taste was sweet and creamy like ice cream.
The fruit, also known as sugar-apple, is fairly large. Only two or three make a kilogram. Sweetsops from the nursery contain only a few dozen seeds, an improvement over the common sweetsop which usually has a cumbersome 90 to 100 seeds. While the common variety goes rotten in three days, the crossbred nona sri variety can last for a week.
A civil servant from Buleleng, Bali, self-taught himself how to crossbreed superior seeds. His influence has spread through Java and Bali.
Read More
More Outreach articles in other editions
November 4, 2014 edition
Indonesia is the country with the fifth-most bird species in the world. More than 1,600 species of bird live in the archipelago, and 380 of them are native to nowhere else. Of those endemic species, 13 are critically endangered. Jihad, a staffer of Burung Indonesia Bird Conservation, said many of the birds lived in especially small areas, making them more vulnerable to habitat disruption. "Birds that are only distributed on Sangihe Island like anis bentet (shrike thrush) face the high risk of extinction when the island is subjected to land conversion," he said.
The other factor is hunting. Jalak putih (black-winged starling), for instance, is hunted for its melodious song. Hawk-eagles are sought for their prestige. In fact, birds serve as an important indicator to determine nature conservation priority regions. If a variety of bird species live in a zone, its biological diversity is in good shape.
Read More
January 1, 1970 edition
Less than five minutes from Tomohon, North Sulawesi, rows of wooden houses stand on stilts along a two-kilometer stretch of road. There are small two-room abodes and larger five-room constructions. But none are occupied. Visitors can enter freely and, if they like what they see, bring the buildings home.
These 'knock-down' houses can be dismantled and reassembled. The stretch of road serves as a showroom. This is the famous Woloan Stilt House Industrial Zone. The artisans come from four subdistricts in the area: Woloan I, North Woloan I, Woloan II and Woloan III. But people just refer to them together as Woloan.
Read More
January 1, 1970 edition
January 1, 1970 edition
More than 10 gunny sacks of cacao kernels were arranged in a row in the front room of Comextra Maora's storehouse in Maumere on the island of Flores in Sikka regency, East Nusa Tenggara. Agus Layni, coordinating team leader of the cacao exporting company, told two employees to examine the sacks' contents. He just wanted to make sure there were no sticking kernels and that they were intact and without epidermis and fungi.
Water content in every cacao kernel is measured with digimost. Undertaking the process revealed that water content in the kernels was around seven percent, in accordance with export standards. "If it is more than 18 percent, we will not buy it," Agus, 32, told Tempo.
Read More
January 1, 1970 edition
January 1, 1970 edition