On April 27, 2024, the ACIAR Manado team traveled to Tomohon together with Jeremy Badgery-Parker, the Research Project Lead from the University of Adelaide, for a meeting held at Greenleaf Resto, Rurukan. The aim of this gathering was to foster connection and introduce the upcoming project. This intention was warmly welcomed by the Tomohon city government, represented by the Head of the Agriculture Office and the Head of the Tourism Office of Tomohon City. Mr. Judisthira Siwu, Head of the Tomohon City Tourism Office, expressed his hope that through this project, local wisdom such as the Tu’ur Maasering practiced by Tomohon farmers could be revitalized and promoted collaboratively. The meeting was attended by 41 individuals from diverse stakeholder backgrounds, including hotel managers and restaurant owners representing the HORECA (Hotel, Restaurant, Catering) sector, officials from the Tomohon city government, academics from the Faculty of Agriculture at UNSRAT, students, and farmer group representatives. All participants mingled and actively engaged in discussions about best practices, challenges, and potential opportunities for collaboration—each contributing from their respective roles to support the project’s goal of building a resilient and collaborative community toward an inclusive supply chain. Following the event, the team also visited the popular Aren Forest tourism site, as highlighted by the Head of the Tourism Office. There, they observed the traditional distillation process of saguer (a local palm liquor), tasted the local whiskey while seated under a sabua (a bamboo hut in Minahasan tradition), and concluded the visit with a stop at Tu’ur Maasering (AYS).
