Farming skills a tool against malnutrition

Farming skills a tool against malnutrition

MOANEMANI, Irian Jaya (JP): The Mee people inhabit 10
districts in the central highlands of Irian Jaya. They can be
found in six districts (Bogobaida, Aradide, Paniai Timur, Paniai
Barat, Damabagata, Tigi) of Paniai regency, and in four districts
(Akrar, Kamu, Mapia and Sukikai) of Nabire regency.

Traditional dress for the men is the koteka (penis sheath) and
the moge (grass skirt) for women. After Christianity and the
Indonesian government entered the region, however, the majority
of the people started wearing conventional clothes.

Most of their territory, composed of rugged mountain chains
and deep valleys, lies 1,500 meters above sea level. Some
mountain peaks reach an altitude of 4,000 meters. In their
environment of high mountains, deep valleys, virgin-rain forest,
swampy grasslands and mild climate, the Mee led their traditional
lives undisturbed by Western civilization until 1937, when the
Catholic Church moved into the region.

In 1970, a Franciscan father, Jules Cjel Coenen, established
the Foundation for Farming, Husbandry, Plantation, Fishery and
Carpentry (Y-P5). Coenen, who was a parish priest in Moanemani,
found the people suffered from protein deficiency and that the
infant mortality rate reached 60 percent.

"As a parish priest, almost every day I had to bury a child.
When the first child was buried, l was able to console people by
saying that their child had entered heaven and enjoyed happiness
there. However, I was not able to tell the same story to them
when I buried the second, or the third or the fourth child,"
Coenen said.

"A man must enjoy happiness in the world, not only in heaven
after life. Therefore, the problem of a lack of protein must be
overcome," he continued. Then he formed the P-5 foundation.

The foundation also aims at improving the welfare of the Mee
tribe. To obtain its goal, the foundation imported new types of
vegetables, fruits and animals which were suitable for the area's
climate.

Among the introductions were peanuts, beans and carrots,
pineapples, papaya, jackfruit, and grape fruits. Also introduced
were ducks, chickens, rabbits and cows.

All of the new types of vegetables, fruits and animals were
dropped by a Cessna, which made the two-and-a-half-hour flight
from Sentani in Jayapura to Moanemani because region was only
accessible by the small single-engined plane. small plane.

Coenen said the Mee tribespeople were fascinated by the
strange sight of a cow because the only animal they knew was the
pig. "For several months, they came from villages, walking by
foot for hours, just to watch the cow."

The foundation set up a two-year training course in Moanemani
to help in the transition. Young people from villages in 10
districts came to learn about agriculture and cattle breeding.

They subsequently returned to their villages to put into
practice what they learned.

Former students were obligated to have a plot of land to plant
vegetables and another one to grow coffee.

All the former student of the course were obligated to have a
plot of land to plant vegetables and another plot to grow coffee.
They also must raise rabbits, chickens and ducks.

"By doing so, we hope that they can improve the nutrition of
the families' food," Didimus said.

Many of the returning farming students have done well, with
some earning the title of tonowi, a rich man.

Didimus said in the first years, the cattle and the seeds of
plants were provided at a special nursery run by the foundation.
The foundation then began to distribute all of these to the
graduates of the course in the village. They were then
distributed to other farmers in their respective villages.

"Through this way, a new kind of vegetables or animal could be
scattered among the people quickly and effectively," he
said. (Neles Tebay)