Changing forests, changing
diets in Papua
Amy Ickowitz, Mulia Nurhasan, Desy Leo Ariesta, Mia Utami
8 April 2021
Webinar: Papua’s paradigm shift in forest uses

Forests have been linked to better
diet quality in several studies from
around the world
Forests provide nutritious wild
foods
Forest provide ecosystem services
for agriculture
Diets around the world have been
transitioning – the DT
DT: less fruits, vegetables,
legumes, fish; more processed
foods, simple carbs, animal source
foods (ASF)
The DT is associated with higher
incidence of NCDs
The Context: Some general facts about
forests and diets and global trends
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Overall nutritional patterns &
trends in Indonesia
Icon source:winco foam
• Dietary transition has been happening rapidly
• SUSENAS data 2008-2017: Declines in leafy
vegetables, fresh legumes
• IFLS data for rural Indonesia 2000-2015:
Declines in fish, fruit, leafy vegetables, legumes
• Increases in chicken, egg, dairy, processed
foods, snacks, POH, sugar sweetened beverages
• Dramatic increase in overweight, obesity,
diabetes
• Very high stunting rates (children too short for
age)

SUSENAS data for Papua Province: changes in food group quantities
-
100
200
300
400
500
rice
based
wheat
based
staple
other
staple
fish
OAA
prsv
fish
OAA
fresh
ruminant
fresh
avian
other
fresh
POH
eggs
total
dairies
dark
green
leafy…
other
vit
A
rich
veg
other
veg
total
veg
legumes
proc.
legumes
total
fruits
edible
fats
sugar
salt
bev
materials
spices
proc.
ings
caloric
snack…
SSB
alcohol
bev
Grams/capita/day
Mean individual daily consumption 2008-2017
urban 2008 urban 2017 rural 2008 rural 2017

SUSENAS data for Papua Province: % change
(70)
(50)
(30)
(10)
10
30
50
70
90 rice
based
wheat
based
staple
other
staple
fish
OAA
prsv
fish
OAA
fresh
ruminant
fresh
avian
other
fresh
POH
eggs
total
dairies
dark
green
leafy
veg
other
vit
A
rich
veg
other
veg
total
veg
legumes
proc.
legumes
total
fruits
edible
fats
sugar
salt
bev
materials
spices
proc.
ings
caloric
snack
crackers
SSB
alcohol
bev
%
change
consumption
Dietary changes of rural urban Papua province 2008-2017
urban
rural
* *
*% more than 100% (POH urban 160%; caloric snackcrack rural 125%)

Partners
• CIFOR
• University of Brawijaya
• Poltekkes Jayapura
• Poltekkes Pontianak
• Penn State University
Results from Drivers of Food
Choice Project: From Growing Food
to Growing Cash (2016-2018)
Photo
by
Manuel
Boissière/CIRA
D
and
CIFOR

Land Use
How might change of land use to OP affect diets?
Food Choice
Diets  Nutritional Status
Food Environment/FoodAccess
Higher income
Better infrastructure/markets
Higher diversity of cropsgrown
Access to wild foods
Time?
Land Use
Oil Palm Hunting&collecting/farming

Study Sites
Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan, Merauke & Jayapura, Keerom, Papua

Methods & Design
• Sample selection:
• indigenous mother-child pairs with about half
(240) traditional livelihoods & about half (250) oil
palm in three districts in Papua Province
• Focus Group Discussions men & women
• 24-hour quantitative dietary recall of mother and child
under 12
• Anthropometry & hemoglobin assessments

Nutritional Status
8,3
45
26,7
20
69,5
9,3
50,2
25,8
14,7
77.7*
Underweight Normal Overweight Obese Anemia
Traditional Papuan (n=240) Oil Palm workers (n=225)
Womenin OP had significantly higher rates of anemia
Womenoverall had very high rates of overweight & obesity
Icon source:finder

Comparing asset ownership (#of assets)
TL OP
Households in OP generally wealthier, but TL households
owned more boats, guns
Overall value of assets(not
shown here) was higher in OP

Comparison of food group consumption: traditional vs oil
palm
0,2 0,0
21,8
64,8***
1,6
24,1
4,9
64,4***
11,9
32,0
39,1
0,0
3,8
3,6** 2,7
15,9
44,6
4,5**
28,6
15,5***
24,7
13,3
37,1
50,2
0,2
12,9***
legumes dairy meat fish eggs greens otherveg fruit fats sweets spiconbev insect processed
food
grams
Women's AvgConsumptionper Foodgroup
TL
OP
*** p<0.01; **0.01<p<0.05;*0.05<p<0.1

Comparison of staple crops: traditional vs oil palm

Distribution of meat consumption by source
Per capita, mom
10%
26%
19%
24%
71%
48%
TL OP
Contribution of sources to meat per capita Mom Papua S1
wild
purchased
others/unidentified
household livestock
gift

More
Less
Main Findings from Project:
Women in oil palm ate....
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fruitnet,balitbangdapapua barat
Rice eggs
wild meat
fruits
Sago fish
vegetables Highly processed

Diets in Papua overall are
changing based on SUSENAS data
In DFC project, we compared diets
for those involved in OP with those
practicing traditional livelihood
strategies
We found dietary costs and
benefits of these changes in DFC
sites
Benefits: more eggs & vegetables
Costs: less fish, fruits, sago and
more highly processed foods
A DT is happening in Papua, but it
is different than the ’global’ DT; it
seems to be an Indonesiazation of
diets
In our study, replacement of
forests with oil palm mostly
affected diets through decreases in
wild meat, fish, and sago
Summing up

Terima kasih banyak!
Thank you!
Photo
by
Manuel
Boissière/CIRA
D
and
CIFOR