[DUMMY – replace with client text] In Papua, sago is more than food. It is the forest’s pantry, a daily staple, and a thread that ties families to their land. Yet as instant noodles and white rice reach even remote villages, many young people see sago as old-fashioned, and the knowledge of how to process it is slowly fading.
Sinagi Papua brings together local food artisans to explore what their forests already provide. Using the Idea-to-Market approach, participants map ingredients around them — sago starch, colourful tubers, salt made from nipah palm, and leaves traditionally brewed as tea — and experiment with ways to turn them into products that last longer, travel further and still taste of home.
In hands-on Product Innovation sessions, the group developed six prototypes: sago crackers, three-colour tuber crackers, nipah salt, moi tea, and two sago cookies made with peanut and coconut. Each product was tested for taste, shelf life and packaging, and paired with a simple story about where it comes from and who makes it.
The programme is ongoing. The next step is to help the community reach buyers in hotels, cafés and gift shops, so that choosing sago becomes a source of both pride and income.