NTT Local Food Knowledge Compiled at Simpul Pangan Nusantara

A total of 31 scientific papers and 18 scientific posters from East Nusa Tenggara were presented at Simpul Pangan Nusantara, a scientific conference on sustainable food systems in Kupang, on Wednesday, September 16, 2026. Students, lecturers, local governments, and food activists sat together to discuss efforts to strengthen food security in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), ranging from home garden practices at the household level to spatial policy directions at the provincial level.

The conference was organized by ICRAF Indonesia, which now operates under the name Landscape Alliance, in collaboration with Bapperida NTT, Nusa Cendana University, and Kupang State Agricultural Polytechnic. The Director of Landscape Alliance Asia, Dr. Sonya Dewi, and the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at Nusa Cendana University, Dr. Tomycho Olviana, delivered the scientific keynote speeches.

Kupang is the first location of the three-part regional series of Simpul Pangan Nusantara, which will continue in Makassar and Palembang in October. This conference serves as a space for scientific dissemination to connect local actions at the grassroots level with landscape-level, and even national, programs.

The Head of Bapperida NTT, Theresia M. Florensia, stated that the local knowledge compiled during this conference serves as input for the Food and Nutrition Regional Action Plan (RAD) as well as strategies and policies in the revision of the Regional Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMD). Furthermore, since the majority of NTT’s regional revenue comes from the agricultural sector, she hopes this conference can also provide input for agricultural policies. “We hope this conference will enrich our knowledge about food and its production, including the involvement of women in it,” Theresia said.

The conference consisted of paper and poster sessions divided into four parallel themes: site-level innovation and climate-smart agriculture, institutional and social inclusion, consumption diversification and nutritional security, as well as landscape governance and policy. There was also a poster session and a multi-stakeholder dialogue called Semeja Makan.

Compiling local knowledge

The organizers chose NTT as the first location due to the region’s relevant conditions. Known as one of the driest regions in Indonesia, NTT is familiar with long dry seasons and erratic rainfall. Climate change exacerbates these conditions and impacts the food system.

Amidst this vulnerability, NTT holds a wealth of local foods that have historically served as the community’s survival strategy against the dry climate, ranging from sorghum, corn, and various tubers to other unique food sources. The problem is that knowledge about this local food remains largely undocumented, making it vulnerable to being forgotten.

Food and nutrition security is one of the action-research focuses of Land4Lives, implemented by ICRAF in collaboration with the NTT Provincial Government and the South Timor Tengah (TTS) Regency Government since 2021. This program, supported by the Canadian government, aims to improve the food security and livelihoods of vulnerable communities, especially women, in facing climate challenges.

“We want to disseminate the lessons learned from the three Land4Lives locations—NTT, South Sulawesi, and South Sumatra—while simultaneously gathering local knowledge from these three provinces and connecting it with programs and policies,” said Balgies Devi Fortuna, a researcher at Landscape Alliance.

Food and nutrition achievements

Over its five years of operation, Land4Lives has yielded various achievements. At the household level, Land4Lives encourages the development of kitchen gardens, both in home yards and communal lands, as sources of nutritious food directly accessible to families. To date, this approach has reached 43 communal food gardens and 771 family home gardens, supported by 8 local seed houses, with 1,288 participants taking part in capacity-building on local food and balanced nutrition (B2SA and Isi Piringku / My Plate).

The kitchen garden program is supported by a food and nutrition campaign that is now integrated into 37 community health centers (Puskesmas) and 27 churches in TTS, backed by 114 health workers and cadres as well as 62 religious leaders. One of the breakthroughs of this campaign is the Father as Food and Nutrition Counselor Movement (GASELOR), which involves over 40 Father Ambassadors to encourage male involvement in fulfilling family nutrition, shifting the assumption that household food and nutrition are solely women’s responsibilities.

At the educational level, Land4Lives, together with the TTS Education Agency, developed a local content curriculum (mulok) titled “Local Food for Climate Resilience,” which was piloted in over 30 schools and reached 2,000 students, with 20 trained teachers and curriculum developers. In the 2026/2027 academic year, all primary and junior high schools in TTS Regency received training on this local content to be implemented in their respective schools. This curriculum is also recommended by the National Food Agency and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education for national replication. As a complement, WikiPangan NTT was developed as a digital knowledge base compiling over 70 articles on NTT local food ingredients, ranging from cultivation methods to their nutritional values.