MUNGKAJANG INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY OF SOUTH SULAWESI STRENGTHENS THE MANAGEMENT OF THE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY'S ECONOMY

Located in the mountains of Palopo City, South Sulawesi, the Mungkajang customary area boasts abundant natural resources. Within the area, there are five Indigenous Community Business Groups (KUMA) that manage Indigenous Community businesses. Each KUMA manages a diverse range of commodities: KUMA Pabolongan manages lemongrass and galangal, KUMA Lajang manages corn, KUMA Lombok has chicken farming, and KUMA Melati processes chips. However, this potential has not been fully utilized due to limited market access, weak infrastructure support, and the knowledge and economic capacity of the business groups. The existing economic management in KUMA is carried out simply, production practices are carried out with makeshift equipment, financial records are irregular, and product marketing relies solely on word of mouth within the surrounding community. These challenges make it difficult for Indigenous Community products to directly penetrate the market.

In order to resolve this problem, the Regional Management (PW) AMAN Tana Luwu chose to prioritize improving the capacity of KUMA administrators. This is because having administrators with the knowledge and skills to manage KUMAs will enable broader marketing of Indigenous Peoples' products. During the training, the administrators of the five KUMAs were provided with materials related to financial recording and business development. In addition to capacity building, the five KUMAs also received financial assistance for the procurement or construction of supporting infrastructure. This infrastructure development included the construction of a product marketing house. The building will function as a shared storage facility and sales facility for Indigenous Peoples' products. It can also be used as a gathering place and a place for collective learning.

This initiative has a direct impact on the 2.446-hectare Mungkajang customary territory. It also impacts 1.519 people, broken down by gender: 522 men, 617 women, and 380 youth.