Halmahera Coconut:

The Ignored Potency

"Plant what you eat, eat what you have planted, and to be self-sufficient!" This expression really tickled two kin who attended Stube-HEMAT training on organic farming in mid-May 2018. "We plant coconut, do we have to eat coconut every day?" they thought. There should be a way to find out the potencies of coconut of Halmahera, only the coconut meat has been used so far.

Halmahera at a Glance: This small K-shaped island in the east of Sulawesi is an island that is producing nutmeg, cloves, coconut and marine products, such as sea cucumber, grouper, tuna and skipjack. Because of its natural resources, Portuguese and Spanish fought each other to control the island. At present Halmahera has become a province, namely North Maluku province which was previously belong to Maluku province. It has many underwater tourism spots, in addition to cultural tourism and historical heritage and even has a sultanate which is still exist until now, namely Sultanate of Ternate and Tidore.

The tourism magnets grow extraordinary after being supported by infrastructure that was continuously upgraded to support people’s productivity in North Maluku or Moluku Kieraha. East Halmahera is one of the youngest regency in North Maluku province. There are many ethnics that live mingling within, covering Tobelo, Maba, Buli that are indigenous ethnics and migrants such as Javanese, Bugis, Toraja, Sanger and others.

There are nine districts in East Halmahera regency. One of them is Central Wasile, known as the rice producer. There are many Javanese transmigrants mostly working as farmers and selling agricultural products to Tobelo and Buli. The indigenous people here are mostly Tobelo, Papua and Sanger ethnics that have inhabited Halmahera long before Indonesia's independence. They have became indigenous people living in several villages such as Hatetabako, Puao, Kakaraino and Nyaolako that are coastal villages. The villages of Puao and Hatetabako themselves are adjacent village and the people commonly work as fishermen and farmers. Farmers in this village have hundreds of tons of coconut products which are harvested every year, however coconut waste has not been processed further except copra. The anxiety was felt by young people who are studying in Yogya and Jakarta, such as Witno and Erik who both are cousins but live in different villages in Halmahera.

They expressed their anxiety when they participated in Organic farming training organized by Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta. Based on their anxiety, Stube gave them chance to visit one place to process coconut shell waste of which products have been sent to various countries both Asia and Europe, namely ‘Chumplung Adji Craft’ in Santan village, Pajangan, Bantul, Yogyakarta.

Arriving there, they were so enthusiastic about the benefits of coconuts from A to Z and their derivative products. The products made them so motivated to finish their study soon and return home to Puao and Hatetabako, because of the extraordinary potencies of coconuts that have not been considered as commodities for community livelihood resources. Whereas along the coastline of their village, there are many coconut trees. There was not any further coconut processing except copra and coconut oil for cooking.

As far as the eye can see along the seashore and under the coconut tree after harvesting time, only a pile of coconut shells that were left to rot and burned. In 'Chumplung Adji Craft', the coconut shell waste can be made into various crafts, such as cups, bowls, accessories boxes, tissue boxes, bags, buttons and more, moreover, the coconut bar can be used into spoons, forks and various other creative products .

The struggle and hope of being able to optimize coconut waste or divert it from copra into crafts is urgent due to the unstable price. At present, the motto is from Santan village, Yogyakarta for Indonesia, but the next 4-5 years later expectation, there will be from Puao and Hatetabako, North Maluku for Indonesia. (SAP).