Tengkawang, is an endemic plant of West Kalimantan, a species from the Shorea Sp, Depterocarpacae family that can only be found in Kalimantan rain forests. The tengkawang tree in general, harvest once in 3 to 4 years, but in the Pikul Pangajid Customary Forest area in Melayang hamlet, Bengkayang Regency, West Kalimantan there is a type of Tengkawang Layar that can be harvest yearly.

In addition to tengkawang trees, which total around 1500 trees, the Customary Forest has other tree species that are classified as rare, including meranti, ironwood, medang, gaharu, resak, rattan, orchids and spices.

Samdhana Institute in collaboration with the Institute for Research and Development of Forest Product Technology (INTAN) in Pontianak, since 2018 has provide support for an investment program focusing on the tengkawang fruit management for the indigenous Dayak Bekati Rara community in Melayang hamlet. They have established the Tengkawang Layar Group in 2015, which aims as a business unit for processing tengkawang fruit into butter or green butter.

The tengkawang layar group has successfully producing various products made from green butter, from food products such as noodles, pastries and tengkawang sticks, as well as cosmetics.

The Pikul Pangajid Customary Forest itself has received recognition from the government of the Republic of Indonesia through a Decree of the Minister of Environment and Forestry on September 20 2018. This recognition provides certainty for the Indigenous Peoples in Melayang hamlet to make the most of the potential of their customary forest in simultaneously preserving it.

http://bit.ly/3ra12e6 [read story in Bahasa Indonesia]