[Unpad.ac.id, 03/06/2013] For many Indonesian people, rice is the primary staple food for carbohydrate fulfillment. However, the fact is that carbohydrates are not only found in rice, as one of cereals. Based on the world food consumption, rice is only peaked at number four on the list of global food consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to grow an alternative food staple to rice. One potential type of alternative staple plant food potentially grown in Indonesia is Job’s tears, which is also known as Tear grass, adlay, or hanjeli in Indonesia.
“It is not fair to make rice as our only staple plant food because it will put too high of social, economic, and political values on rice. Say, if natural disasters causing crop failure take place, such as flood, drought, or pest attack, the rice production will decline and there will be no adequate food supply for everybody. For that reason, we need to prepare and grow another staple crop, which is equivalent to rice. The main thing is to fulfill the need of carbohydrates,” said Prof. Dr. Hj. Tati Nurmala, who is the professor of Agro-technology Unpad Faculty of Agriculture.
When met at the Faculty of Agriculture at Jatinangor, Friday (24/05), Prof. Tati revealed that there are other types of cereals that have long been grown in Indonesia such as sorghum, millet, and job’s tears, which are very potential to become the alternatives to rice, and apparently they have sprouted evenly in almost all Indonesian provinces. Besides the fact that they are easier to grow, they are not inferior to rice in terms of nutritional content
Unfortunately, these local sources of food are not easy to find everywhere and, as a source of carbohydrates other than rice, they are not as popular as wheat. Whereas, as alternative food sources, this variety of local cereals provide high levels of nutrients and they are prospectively grown in Indonesia since they can sprout even in a marginal land with dry climate.
As an agronomist focusing on alternative staple crops, Prof. Tati is determined to promote the potential of local plants as an alternative staple food both through her books and seminars. One of her books entitled “Cereal – Main Carbohydrate Sources” is widely used as references in discussing alternative crops both by scholars and observers of agricultural world.
Her interest in alternative food source began when she was working on her bachelor’s thesis, and continued to draw her concern when doing her dissertation on cereal crops, particularly wheat. Since she felt that wheat was not very promising as an alternative to rice, in 1986 she began to turn her attention to another type of cereal crop, which is Job’s tears.
Hanjeli yang berasal dari Asia Tenggara ini sudah berkembang di beberapa negara seperti Malaysia dan Filipina. Di Indonesia, hanjeli terdapat di hampir seluruh provinsi dan banyak dimanfaatkan sebagai makanan camilan atau dikonsumsi pada masa paceklik. “Sayangnya tanamannya tidak ditanam dengan serius,” ungkap Prof. Tati.
This type of cereal originating from Southeast Asia has been grown in several countries such as Malaysia and the Philippines. In Indonesia, the plant can be found in almost all provinces and widely consumed as snack food during famine. “Unfortunately, the plant has not received as serious attention,” said Prof. Tati.
In West Java, the plant is grown by farmers in conventional way and can be found in Punclut Bandung regency, Cipongkor, Gunung Halu, Kiarapayung, Rancakalong, Tanjungsari Sumedang District, Sukabumi, Garut, Ciamis and Indramayu. The local community has consumed the crop as mush, tape, dodol, etc. Aside from being a staple food source, the plant is also potentially useful as a medicinal use.
“What’s interesting is that the seeds contain equivalent nutrition found in rice. In 100 grams of them contain carbohydrates (76.4%), protein (14.1%), even rich with vegetable fat content (7.9%) and high calcium (54.0 mgr), ” she explained.
Unfortunately, many farmers are still reluctant to grow Job’s tears, even though they’ve known for so long that it is a potential food source. The farmers consider it is a kind of plant that takes a long time to harvest. In addition, the shells are so though that it’s difficult to be processed.
“The farmers only need counseling and some motivation. Currently, I’ve got four genotypes of Job’s tears selected from various areas in West Java, which are very good for food crops. Why good? Because they are early maturing, easy to break, easy to plant, and they taste like sticky rice. This type of Job’s tears is called hanjeli pulut in Bahasa Indonesia and is ready to be grown as a staple crop. If needed, we have the seeds and we are ready to help,” she said.
However, still according to Prof. Tati, who is currently serving as the head of Plant Sciences Master Program in the Faculty of Agriculture of Universitas Padjadjaran, it is indeed not easy to promote Job’s tears. Alternative food source development should be encouraged continuously from upstream to downstream. She is determined and won’t stop assisting farmers in producing, utilizing, processing and selling the alternative staple crop.
“The product is actually already available in black markets. Some supermarkets here sell Chinese Job’s tears for about Rp 120.000,00 per kg. While in Punclut Lembang, Bandung regency, we can get local Job’s tears from the local farmers for only Rp. 20.000,00 to Rp. 25.000,00 per kg,” she said.
She also explained that until recently, the effort to sell Job’s tears is a problematic one. The problem is that Job’s tears is a rare plant to find and, because of its rich nutrients, it is primarily and popularly used as a herbal plant instead of an alternative staple crop.
