The Fragrance of Indonesian Spices in Kalaodi, Tidore Islands

The Kalaodi Literacy Community (FOLILA) is located in Kalaodi Village, East Tidore District, Tidore Islands City, North Maluku. With 17 members, this community focuses on developing education and strengthening sustainable economy, especially by utilizing local natural resources.

Kalaodi itself is known as an area that still maintains local wisdom in forest and land management. In preserving and managing nature, the tradition of the Kalaodi Community is not to damage and not to take excessively. They believe that violators of taboos will be subject to the bobeto customary oath. In Tidore language it says, -"nage dahe so jira alam, ge domaha alam yang golaha so jira se ngon" - whoever damages nature will be damaged by nature".

The Kalaodi community mostly grows spice commodities such as cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon as their main livelihood in forest gardens, side by side with large forest trees. In their efforts to cultivate the land, Kalaodi farmers often have difficulty drying their crops. The increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather changes due to climate change often become obstacles in the process of drying spices after harvest.

Drying takes longer because the drying time depends on the intensity of the sun. So the average water content in spices is often uncertain. Whereas the percentage of content and average dryness are vital values ​​in high-quality dry spices.

To address these issues, with the support of the Nusantara Fund Direct Funding, FOLILA developed a solution to optimize the post-harvest production process while improving the economic and social welfare of the surrounding community. FOLILA focuses on the development of post-harvest processing infrastructure and the rehabilitation of community facilities.

One of the main activities is the construction of two spice drying houses, located in two villages, namely Kola and Golili. The drying houses are designed to facilitate the drying process of cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon, so that farmers are no longer dependent on the weather. These drying houses are equipped with drying racks that allow commodities to be dried even when it rains. With an area of ​​3x5 meters each in Golili and 4x6 meters in Kola, it is hoped that they will be able to accommodate the maximum spice harvest.

To date, FOLILA has successfully built two spice drying houses to increase the efficiency and productivity of post-harvest processing in the drying process of Kalaodi spice commodities. The drying house also allows for more even quality control, so that it can meet higher market quality standards. 

FOLILA also rehabilitated the secretariat building to make it more suitable for a community activity center. The first floor of the building is used as a coffee shop and handicraft outlet, while the second floor functions as a literacy room. FOLILA's coffee shop serves local specialty coffee, as an effort to create additional income for the community. Meanwhile, the outlet displays various handicraft products made by local people, such as coconut shell ashtrays and traditional baskets.

In the handicraft stalls, the community not only gets a place to market their products for alternative income, but can also introduce local craft culture to visiting tourists. While the literacy room on the second floor is a place to disseminate information and education for community members as well as visitors or tourists.

Post-harvest processing of spices and the FOLILA multifunctional secretariat in Kalaodi are their way of adapting to climate change. This will also reduce the burden on the forest from potential over-exploitation that can damage the balance of nature. By maximizing the value of the spice harvest, alternative income from coffee and crafts, and literacy space at least 505 Kalaodi villagers benefit. 

What FOLILA does is not only about welfare but also ensuring that the local wisdom of the bobeto in interacting with nature - namely not destroying and taking excessively - will continue to live no matter what challenges of the times they will face in the future.