Fair recognition for highland products

http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=20155

Fair recognition for highland products

by Zoee Hillson

March 29, 2010, Monday


BA KELALAN: Products from the highland community in Borneo will finally be given fair recognition through the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) ‘Green and Fair Products (GFP)’ certification.

PREMIUM RICE: Pade Adan Item (black Adan rice).A GFP workshop organised by WWF in collaboration with Forum Masyarakat Adat (FORMADAT) Ba Kelalan held in Long Langai, Ba Kelalan has identified six products to be marketed as GFP.

Participants in the workshop helped by facilitators from WWF have identified Adan rice, salt, cinnamon, Tenem, Benamud and Jerangkau Merah as suitable to be marketed as GFP.

According to WWF Indonesia Social Development advisor Cristina Eghenter, these products will use WWF’s brand power to help promote it as GFP.

The packaging’s design will include the name of the product’s origin and WWF’s ‘Green and Fair’ logo.

Eghenter said to ensure fairness, it is important to include the name of the product’s origin.

“For example if the Adan rice (wet rice) comes from Ba Kelalan, it will be branded as ‘Organic Rice from the Highlands of Borneo-Ba Kelalan’ and vice versa for other areas designated as the ‘The Heart of Borneo’,” she said.

That way, she said all of the villages in the highlands of Borneo will get equal recognition for their products.

The move will also help promote areas in the highland for potential tourism purposes.
WWF Malaysia community liaison officer Dora Jok added that it is very important to educate the community that the rice is actually their identity, and that is why it is important for them to put the place of origin in the packaging.

The ‘Green and Fair Products’ workshop was held in Long Langai, Ba Kelalan to educate and expose the local community regarding GFP.

The workshop held on March 24 to 27 was attended by over 26 participants from Ba Kelalan, Krayan and Bario.

During the workshop, participants shared their knowledge and ideas on GFP and came out with an action plan for marketing and developing their GFP.

According to Eghenter, the development of GFP from the highlands of Borneo is one of the various efforts through the ‘Heart of Borneo (HoB) Initiative’ which was declared in 2007 between the governments of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

She said Long Semadoh, Ba Kelalan and Bario in Sarawak, Ulu Padas in Sabah and Krayan and Krayan Selatan in Kalimantan, Indonesia were identified as the highlands in the HoB.

The HoB initiative is a voluntary transboundary cooperation of the three countries that combine the stakeholders’ interest based on local wisdom with respect for law, regulations and policies in the respective countries, multi-level environmental agreements and existing regional and bilateral agreements.

Participants of the workshop are to come out with a common consensus on packaging, branding and documentation of GFP.

Besides that, the workshop has also managed to document various varieties of Adan rice including Pade Adan Buda (white Adan rice), Pade Adan Item (black Adan rice) and Pade Adan Sia (red Adan rice).

The ‘Green and Fair’ products from the HoB will be introduced to the market by FORMADAT and WWF at the Rainforest World Music Festival to be held in July this year.