Garda Pangan: Food Bank for Surabaya and Malang

Somewhere between 20% to 40% of the global food supply is disposed of before it gets to market. Some of this is due to quality standards, namely regarding the physical state of a product (Garda Pangan, 2018). Regardless of the fact that the food is still edible, due to it not being able to meet these quality standards is cause enough for it to be disposed of. Indonesia as a country is a great contributor to this issue: Indonesians dispose of more than 300 kg of food per capita each year. Unfortunately it is one of the worst when it comes to food waste management and policies. Some 19.4 million Indonesians are living in poverty, so there is certainly something to be gained by confronting these issues regarding our food supply. This is where the Garda Pangan community comes in. Dedhy Trunoyudho is one of the founders and once ran a business as a wedding caterer. Dedhy felt distraught after witnessing the amount of food waste produced every weekend. From a business standpoint, finding a way to reallocate this excess seemed the ideal course of action as well as being economically much more sensible. With this in mind, Garda Pangan was founded in March 2018.

The organization operates in the social, environmental and food sectors whilst not associating with any governmental, political or religious institution. The vision of the founders is an Indonesia liberated from starvation by the redistribution of excess food. Garda Pangan aims to promote awareness within the hospitality industry, businesses and government, in order to create a socially responsible and caring community where everyone can contribute to combating food waste. Garda Pangan developed an idea where the organization collects food on the verge of being wasted – but still nutritious and edible – and distributing it to people in need, such as orphanages, nursing houses, shelters and physically-challenged individuals in Surabaya. On the back of this program, Garda Pangan has expanded its reach to the city of Sidoarjo.

Garda Pangan conducts its own research when deciding on who benefits from their services, and the organization remains open to recommendations for those who need help. When donating food, they are careful to schedule aid in order to prevent misuse of or over-dependence on the program. Garda Pangan also works together with the farmers who produce, for whatever reason, products that are deemed unappealing to the food supply market. Hence the organization is able to provide support to the farming communities who cultivated these products to maintain not only their income, but the economy in general. Through collaboration with the organizers of national events, weddings, university events, parties and also major players in the hospitality industry such as hotels, restaurants, cafes and bakeries, Garda Pangan has positioned itself to take receipt of excess food. The organization has developed its own Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to help each volunteer that joins to guide them in how to operate within Garda Pangan and the steps for processing excess food. The process involves visual, olfactory and tasting checks.

In addition to collecting excess food, reports are sent to each donor, with details of who received the food that was donated. Moreover, Garda Pangan has set up on- and offline programs to introduce methods to keep food waste to a minimum.

These programs extend to teaching children ways to save food through various interactive games. As of June 2022, Garda Pangan has saved 397,431 portions or 107 tonnes of food and donated food to 26,129 beneficiaries.

Interview

Interviewees
Ms. Eva Bachtiar – Co-founder, Garda Pangan
Mr. Kevin Gani – Volunteer Program Coordinator, Garda Pangan

Q: How long have you been associated with Garda Pangan and what is your main role in the organization?

Eva: I have been involved since the beginning, from June 2017 as the co-founder and CEO. I manage Garda Pangan’s activities full time which includes stakeholders, funding and our relationship with our partners.

Kevin: My role is volunteer coordinator. I’ve been a volunteer myself since 2018. My duties focus on coordinating the volunteers.

Q: Where did you learn about Garda Pangan? What motivated you to volunteer?

Kevin: I learned about Garda Pangan from an Instagram post about volunteer open recruitment. I volunteered 10 times, until they offered me the chance to become volunteer coordinator. My main motivation was to make connections outside my campus. Initially, I was ignorant about food waste, but eventually I came to feel this was the right place for me because we can help so many people.

Q: Why was the organization formed and why is it needed in our community? What problems is it trying to solve?

Eva: Awareness of food waste is rather low in our community. We hear a lot about plastic waste, but 40% of the waste produced in Indonesia is actually food waste. So we wanted to provide a solution.

Kevin: The food bank concept is still new to Indonesia, despite being the second greatest contributor to food waste worldwide. And we have so many Indonesians who need help with food. So it makes sense to collect excess food and share it with those in need.

Q: Why does the problem exist in the first place?

Eva: The problem can be divided into food loss and food waste. Food loss occurs during production, storage, transportation, etc. Meanwhile, food waste occurs at the retailer and when the food reaches the consumer. For food loss, lack of technological advances in storage, transportation or even infrastructure, such as uneven roads, may cause fruits to bruise. Consumers prefer visually appealing products, therefore slight blemishes can be a problem.

Q: What programs do you run that help the community?

Eva: Our Food Rescue program saves food from being discarded by cooperating with the hospitality industry at events such as weddings or festivals. Gleaning is when we work with farmers and collect visually unattractive crops that are nutritious and high quality despite their appearance. Our offline and online campaigns spread awareness in the community. We also advocate for better policies and regulations on food waste in Indonesia. We have business units to gather funds for our activities. We provide food waste management services and workshops for companies. Our Ugly Produce Business helps process unattractive products into ice-cream, juices, jams and dried fruits to teach people that visually unappealing doesn’t always mean inedible. Lastly, our Organic Waste Treatment program processes waste with maggots to produce feed for livestock.

Q: Where does the donated food come from and who does it go to?

Kevin: We accept donations without restrictions: raw ingredients, beverages, snacks, breads and others. If you are interested in donating, please notify our contact person and we will do the rest.

Eva: To ensure that the beneficiary is appropriate, we conduct research into their lifestyle, and ask questions about dietary restrictions, etc. Currently, our donations have reached 155 locations in Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Gresik, and Madura.

Q: How does Garda Pangan work with farmers when it comes to gleaning?

Eva: Gleaning occurs in two ways. First, we may work with a farmer to gather unappealing produce left unharvested. Second, when a commodity drops in price, some farmers do not have enough money to pay laborers to harvest this produce and it would just go to waste.

Q: What role does Garda Pangan play in the local community now and in the future?

Eva: Our role is to reduce food waste. By February 2022, we had saved 99 tonnes of food, which equates to 188 tonnes of carbon emissions. We have donated 367,266 portions of food to 25,764 beneficiaries. We also contribute to improving health indices in the communities we serve.
Kevin: I think nowadays each city needs a food bank to manage and redistribute food waste. Our role is also to raise awareness about this issue.

Q: Are there any difficulties you face in the community?

Eva: Food Bank is still an uncommon term and concept to most people and some businesses still waste food. Another challenge is funding. Half of our funding comes from donations.

Kevin: Logistics and geography can be a challenge. To get to some locations, we may need to cross a river. However, with support from our partners, obstacles become easier to overcome.

Q: What has been a rewarding experience through your involvement in Garda Pangan?

Kevin: I think it’s when I meet the people we donate to. One time, we met an old woman who didn’t have access to clean water and had to buy all the water she used. Since it’s expensive, she rarely bathes. Experiences like that are very eye opening.

Q: Are there any plans for Garda Pangan to expand to other cities?

Eva: Our dream is to spread to other cities. However, we need to do it gradually. We expanded to Malang in 2020, but we didn’t have an office and partners when the pandemic hit. After things calm down, we plan to address these problems and start operations.

Q: During the pandemic did Garda Pangan experience challenges in operating your programs?

Eva: When the pandemic started, all of our partners received huge setbacks and many stopped operating. Some decreased production significantly, hence there’s less food we can collect. We also stopped operating for two weeks as our activities include plenty of in-person interaction. However, the pandemic caused more food crises, so we focused more on distributing food and we collected food waste only once a week. Thankfully now we can return to normal operations.

Q: What advice would you like to give to people who want to help?

Eva: We promote reducing food waste in each household through the tips we share in our online campaigns. People can also donate to food banks as well as buying from our Gleaning program. Awareness of these issues is a great first step.

Kevin: The first step would be to know your own food portions and to only prepare what you will eat, no more. However, if you have excess food, you can share it with the people around you or you can contact a food bank.

Reflections

Hearing about the efforts of Garda Pangan to combat food waste has been incredibly motivating. It starts on our own plate – cooking and eating only what we need – and extends to global emissions and health statistics.

It was surprising to hear Indonesia was ranked globally as the second largest offender when it comes to food waste, according to a 2017 study by the Economist Intelligence Unit, with 300 kg of food per person wasted each year.

Awareness is so poor in Indonesia, and the government and the citizenry do very little to reduce food waste. There are many people who do not receive adequate nutrition, yet we struggle with this issue.

Garda Pangan tries to set an example of how to reuse excess food to achieve two objectives simultaneously: to save food waste from being thrown away and to assist people experiencing food supply challenges.

It is a very complex issue and hopefully we can do something to advocate for better food waste policies. All of us can do our part, by preventing food waste in our own homes, or supporting organizations like Garda Pangan. Together we can build a society free from food waste.

References

Garda Pangan. (2018). Retrieved from: gardapangan.org

Indriani, R. Nodia, F. (2018). Komunitas Garda Pangan.
https://www.suara.com/lifestyle/2018/10/20/100235/komunitas-garda-pangan-si-pengawal-makanan-agar-tak-mubasir.

Suherlan, D. (2019). Garda Pangan Surabaya.
https://www.greeners.co/ide-inovasi/garda-pangan-terdepan-dalam-menghadapi-krisis-pangan-di-surabaya/

Researchers

Hello everyone! My name is Sarah Pondung. I am a medical student from the University of Surabaya with aspirations to become a competent, empathetic doctor. I am from Indonesia, but I was born and raised for most of my life in the Middle East, in Kuwait. My passion lies in volunteering, writing, poetry and in appreciating the little things in life. I aim to contribute to the medical field through dedication and hard work. I plan to specialize in either psychiatry or pediatrics.

 

My name is Joshua Tanujaya and I am from Indonesia. I’m a chemical engineering student from the University of Surabaya with dreams of developing innovations to overcome obstacles in society. I enjoy reading novels, playing games, watching movies, hanging out and having a lie in.