February 2, 2016 edition
From October through February, Arfah Arifin, 40, often comes home empty-handed. Like other fisherwomen in Perlis hamlet, Langkat regency, North Sumatra province, she has to work side jobs just to make ends meetsometimes that means serving food to students at the elementary school, other times it means watering nurseries.
Arfah works long hours, and even then often comes up short on her children's school tuition. This forces her to pay her neighbors 'courtesy visits', where she asks for money. "The important thing is that food is always there," the mother of four told Tempo two weeks ago.
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More Outreach articles in other editions
January 26, 2016 edition
Soon after Joko Widodo was elected president, he declared food self-sufficiency to be one of his priorities. Tens of thousands of tractors were bought and distributed to farmers and a large budget was allocated to subsidize seeds and fertilizers. Indonesia is one of the world's top rice consuming country and a net importer of the staple. The President stressed that the nation must achieve food security within three years.
Slamet Budijanto, an expert in food science and technology from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) maintains that we should pay more attention to the diverse food sources available in the country and rely less on rice. Budijanto spoke to Nabiha Shahab from Tempo English on how Indonesia can achieve food self-sufficiency. Excerpts:
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January 19, 2016 edition
One needs never be afraid to create new designs and motifs, exhorted Musa Widjatmodjo, 50, at a workshop held as part of the Flobamora Fashion Festival in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), last December. The event was attended by scores of weavers and designers from all over the NTT province. Many wanted to learn how to turn woven cloth into fashion garments.
Musa, a designer known for his eclectic style, noted that the young local designers appeared reluctant to innovate because traditional woven cloth was looked upon as an ancient heritage not to be tampered with. He decided to encourage the local weaverswho were also designersto try their hand at designing new motifs on woven cloth and cutting them into contemporary apparel as a nod to the age-old traditions.
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January 12, 2016 edition