Riza Azyumarridha Azra, Raising the prestige of cassava
By
Megandika Wicaksono
·4 minutes read
A meeting with cassava farmers in Banjarnegara, Central Java, in 2014 encouraged Riza Azyumarridha Azra to totally plunge into educating the public about the potential of the local food, which is often overlooked. He has taught how to process cassava into modified cassava flour (mocaf), which fetches a better price.
“I met a cassava farmer in Kalitengah village. He wept because the price of cassava was only Rp 200 per kilogram. He did not harvest the cassava and left it to rot in the fields, because it cost too much [to harvest],” said Riza Azyumarridha Azra, on Friday (02/08/2019), in Banjarnegara.
His meeting with farmers in 2014 began with the rural community school Komunitas Sekolah Inspirasi Pedalaman, which Riza and fellow volunteers at Muhammadiyah Disaster Management Center attended. “From there, we thought of how to increase the price of cassava. After consulting with a number of agricultural experts and lecturers at UGM, we chose to process cassava as mocaf,” he said.
With the support of the Banjarnegara Muhammadiyah Chapter Community Empowerment Council (MPM) and the Amil, Zakat, Infaq, and Sadaqah Institution (Lazismu), Riza and his colleagues trained 45 farmers in Kalitengah and Parakan villages, Purwanegara district and Pesangkalan village, Pagedongan district, to make mocaf.
The process of making mocaf flour is quite complicated and takes at least three days and three nights. Therefore, farmers sometimes are impatient in carrying it out. However, after one month of training the farmers started to produce mocaf flour.
At present, there are at least 11 locations for producing mocaf in Banjarnegara, including in Parakan, Karanganyar, Pucung Bedug, Lebakwangi, Pesangkalan, Bawang, Blambangan, Petambakan, Kalibening and Punggelan. “Per month, on average, each location can process 7 quintals of cassava and produce 3 quintals of mocaf flour,” said Riza.
Every location needs at least 10-15 people to peel the cassava. Most of these are housewives. The price of cassava has since started to improve, to between Rp 2,000 and Rp 2,500 per kilogram. The mocaf flour costs Rp 10,000 per kg.
The increasing mocaf production led to another problem, that of marketing. “Initially, our mission was to teach people how to produce mocaf. But, then, there was the problem of marketing it,” he said.
Mocaf house
Riza invited small and medium enterprises to produce mocaf-based snacks. He did not stop there. Riza also setup Rumah Mocaf (mocaf house) for the selling of the mocaf-based snacks. Under the supervision of the Banjarnegara Mocaf Association founded in 2017, there are now 30 mocaf makers in the region.
“One of the biggest tasks is to educate the people. Through Rumah Mocaf, we introduce processed products such as mocaf noodles, roti Maryam, biscuits and dawet. All of these are made from mocaf,” said Riza, who is the chairman of the Banjarnegara Mocaf Association.
Today, the association can produce 5 tons of mocaf flour per month. Aside from fulfilling the needs of small and medium enterprises in Banjarnegara, the flour is also sold in Yogyakarta, Tasikmalaya and Garut. “There are three bakeries in Yogyakarta that order 1 quintal of flour each week,” Riza said.
Riza’s activity has attracted the attention of the local administration. Through the Banjarnegara Industry and Cooperatives Office, the administration supports the legal and halal certification of the home-produced food. Even, the regent has instructed local offices to present mocaf-based snacks during meetings or ceremonies.
Purwokerto Bank Indonesia Office also provides support by donating equipment including a cassava cutter and pressing, crushing and drying machines, as well as a blower and heater that can process 2 quintals of cassava at once. It also assists in the marketing.
Food sovereignty
Riza’s spirit in raising the prestige of cassava is driven by the ideal of realizing food sovereignty. If the Indonesian people continue to depend on wheat flour the flour will continue to be imported because wheat comes from overseas.
Quoting advice from Said Tuhuleley, the late Muhammadiyah MPM chairman for the period 2010-2015, Riza said, “as long as the people still suffer, there is no such word as rest.” He also got the message from social entrepreneur consultant Tri Mumpuni to pay attention to the capacity of nature. Do not overexploit nature or labor.
“It would be useless if you can supply the market with tons of a product, but you damage the environment, sanitation is damaged or the environment becomes polluted. You may take advantage, but do not exceed the natural capacity,” said Riza firmly.
Riza Azyumarridha Azra
Born: Banjarnegara, March 24, 1991 Wife: Wahyu Budi Utami (26) Education:
- SD Muhammadiyah 4 Banjarnegara - SMP N 1 Banjarnegara
- SMA N 1 Banjarnegara
- Electrical engineering at UGM, Yogyakarta
(2013)
Activity:
- Coordinator of Integrated Agriculture of MPM Muhammadiyah Banjarnegara – Owner of Rumah Mocaf Banjarnegara