But it is not her expertise in law which makes her a household name in East Flores regency in the province of East Nusa Tenggara.
“When a neighbour gave it to me I asked her whether there were any seeds for me to plant,” said Mdm Loretha, adding however,Maria Loretha has been dubbed 'Mama Sorghum' due to her consistency in introducing sorghum to communities. “So I started looking for the seeds from village to village. Something pushed me to keep going.
Today, about 1,000 people, mostly female farmers, are involved in sorghum cultivation in about eight regencies in East Nusa Tenggara. “We want to have lots of alternatives, lots of choices that we can cultivate in our country food diversification and food ingredient alternatives. This month, the government decided to import 200,000 tons of rice to replenish the state logistics agency rice stocks that have been depleted.Sorghum is a cereal plant which is usually round and comes in a variety of colours such as white, yellow, red, brown, black and purple.
"But sorghum is relatively resilient to weather conditions as it doesn't need continuous water to grow like rice."Processing sorghum requires a different technology from rice paddy because the character of the seed is very different but generally, it does not require high technology, said the head of BRIN, Mr Handoko.
“The prospect of sorghum-based bioenergy will also be very promising when we are able to manage and market it professionally so that nothing is wasted, especially for bioethanol, energy briquettes or biopellets as well as plywood raw materials,” he explained. Sorghum makes one feel full faster and for a much longer period of time compared to rice, said Prof Azrai.OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME
Mr Handoko said that as part of the 2024 sorghum production roadmap, BRIN is currently developing new varieties of sorghum that are suitable for specific locations in the country. “But the question is, why is it not progressing? Because there is no ecosystem for it to develop further,” he pointed out.“The problem is there are no off-takers. So the industry is not well-developed.