Food security: Kowani promotes women-led cassava downstreaming

The Indonesian Women’s Congress (Kowani) is promoting the development of women-led cassava downstreaming as part of efforts to strengthen food security, the village economy, micro, small, and medium enterprises (UMKM), cooperatives, and family self-reliance.

“Cassava should not stop at being a raw material. Kowani wants to build an ecosystem from farmers, women, UMKM, cooperatives, universities, industry, to national and international markets,” said Kowani Chairwoman Nannie Hadi Tjahjanto in a statement received in Jakarta on Tuesday.

She made the remarks during a visit to Rumah Tempe Srikandi TS and Dapur Hulya in Bogor, West Java. She observed the significant potential of cassava to be developed into various healthy, innovative, and value-added food products with opportunities to enter modern and industrial markets.

According to her, cassava must be elevated from a traditional commodity to a source of innovation and a new economic force. As a follow-up, she initiated the Kowani Cassava Innovation Challenge 2026-2028 with the theme “From Cassava to Added Value for Indonesia.”

She added that the best products from the competition would receive awards and be directed towards incubation, standardisation, certification, packaging design, business matching, access to financing, production, modern retail, and even export opportunities.

“Kowani does not just sit and discuss women’s issues. We go down to the grassroots, discover potential, process it with knowledge, and then elevate it to become Indonesia’s women’s economic strength,” said Nannie Hadi Tjahjanto.

This effort, she said, will be strengthened through collaboration with the government, universities, the business sector, industry, farmers, cooperatives, women’s organisations, financing institutions, and offtakers, as well as being developed through village pilot projects and a national cassava downstreaming roadmap.