Rural development in Papua: lesson learned from cocoa farming

Abstract

This paper convey a reflection on the economic activities of the chocolate farming community in Berab, Papua and its relationship with the international market, namely in Japan through the Kakao Kita business organization in Jayapura. The ethnographic methods was used to collect the data, in-depth interviews, participant observation, and visual ethnography are conducted during June 2020 – January 2021.The crucial finding from this research is that the trading systems that are built are both based on humanism and community principles. Both buyers from Japan and the farming community built social relations which then abandoned the impression that trade, especially on an international scale, was all about profit and loss. There is a positive intersubjectivity between the two of them, shown by a sense of togetherness in the importance of maintaining this relationship, as well as the relationship to nature shown by organic cocoa plantation management and transparent and humanist trading mechanisms. Furthermore, the challenge that arises and need to reflect on is whether a similar scheme model can be replicated to other communities in Papua. It is recommended to the Papuan local government to take a closer look at the policy implementation process, especially from special autonomy for the economic empowerment of local communities.

Papua Special Autonomy in Engagement With Gender, Generations and Deforestation: Insight From Feminist Political Ecology

“…In the culture of most traditional areas in the Land of Papua, men dominate in various elements, and patriarchal culture is still very embedded in Papuan society (Agustina, 2023;Nur, 2019;Rahmanto et al, 2021;You, 2019). Likewise, customary rights (hak ulayat) to land and forest release are in the hands of men, even though forests as a source of livelihood have their meaning for traditional Papuan women.…”

“…Women only have management rights over the land and forests. Women work in gardens, manage natural resources for food, care for their children and husbands, and sell their garden products at the market (Mahuze, 2022, p. 67;Rahmanto et al, 2021;Rihi & Hiluka, 2018, p. 203). Women, with all their limitations in access and control over resources, experience vulnerability are displaced from their living space, and lose their source of livelihood.…”