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good product doesn'€™t have to come from scratch; it can also be created by innovating what is already there.

This has been proven by Javara '€“ which means '€œchampion'€ in Sanskrit '€“ an Indonesian company that specializes in selling natural food products to preserve the country'€™s food biodiversity.

Established in 2009, Javara'€™s pride lies in its wide collection of Indonesian indigenous rice, all certified organic and freshly milled without added preservatives, bleaching or coloring. Its rice varieties, polished and unpolished, range from the popular Pandan Wangi and Rojolele Gebyok to the rare Saudah, Cempo Hitam and Andel Abang.

Its selection of organic raw honey is also among Javara'€™s popular products, along with gourmet artisan salt ranging from Kusamba natural sea salt to Bali Pulaki artisan salt.

'€œGula semut [organic coconut sugar] is also among Javara'€™s most-sought products abroad because of its low glycemic index and rich minerals,'€ said co-founder and executive director Helianti Hilman.

Variants of traditional snacks such as opak ketan putih (white sticky rice crackers) and kue sagon bakar (gluten-free roasted coconut crackers) are also popular, especially among retail shoppers.

Presently, Javara has exported its products worldwide to the United States, Canada, continental Europe and England. It also has two marketing representative offices, one in the United States to cover the North American market and the other in Germany to cater to the European market.

Aside from exporting worldwide, Javara also distributes its line of products to local supermarkets such as Kem Chicks, Ranch Market and Carrefour. Several classy restaurants and international hotel chains such as Shangri-La, Grand Hyatt and Kempinski have also been using Javara'€™s products in their kitchens as well as on the tables.

'€œWe make the best quality products from the best local ingredients in Indonesia and share the origin and stories behind them to the world. This is what makes Javara stands out from the others and what keeps us growing,'€ added Helianti.

Prior to its huge success, the company was initially set up to assist small-time farmers in improving their welfare by providing financial aid, market access, development training as well as promoting their products to worldwide buyers.

'€œMost of the farmers only know how to farm, but they don'€™t have proper knowledge on market trends, marketing strategies or about packaging design. Thus, with only average quality products, they will not survive competing with mass production,'€ said Helianti.

Starting off as a foundation, Helianti later changed Javara'€™s status to an enterprise and ran the company under the umbrella of PT Kampung Kearifan Indonesia to help convince prospective investors to invest in its program, supermarket chains to distribute its products and professionals to work for Javara.

'€œThe only way Javara can compete with mass production is by producing the finest local food products, promoting them to worldwide buyers and targeting the niche market,'€ said Helianti.

When she went on a three-month roadshow to visit small-scale farmers in Javara'€™s network across Java and Bali to better understand the farmers'€™ problems, Helianti realized that even though the farmers lived in different places across the archipelago, they shared similar local wisdom and principles in farming.

'€œThus, Javara'€™s products are not merely organic certified products, but also ones which are grown using local wisdom and principles inherited from the farmers'€™ ancestors,'€ said Helianti.

This experience later inspired her to change Javara'€™s tagline to '€œIndigenous Indonesia'€.

Today, Javara is the largest certified organic producer in the country and manages more than 50,000 farmers spread throughout the archipelago.

To add more value, the company includes the origin story behind each product'€™s packaging so buyers will not only taste the premium product but can also appreciate the indigenous tale behind it.

(Novani Nugrahani/jakpost.travel)