Riza Azyumarridha Azra, Raising the prestige of cassava

KOMPAS/MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO

Riza Azyumarridha Azra

A meeting with cassava farmers in Banjarnegara, Central Java, in 2014 encouraged Riza Azyumarridha Azra to totally plunge into educating the public about the potential of the local food, which is often overlooked. He has taught how to process cassava into modified cassava flour (mocaf), which fetches a better price.

“I met a cassava farmer in Kalitengah village. He wept because the price of cassava was only Rp 200 per kilogram. He did not harvest the cassava and left it to rot in the fields, because it cost too much [to harvest],” said Riza Azyumarridha Azra, on Friday (02/08/2019), in Banjarnegara.