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Rien Surie: The passion(ate) fruit grower
RIEN SURIE: (JP/Theresia Sufa) Driven by the desire to improve the economic condition of local residents and put vacant plots of land at the foothills of Mount Salak to good use, Rien Surie made the decision to give up her office job and switch to growing passion fruit
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RIEN SURIE: (JP/Theresia Sufa)
Driven by the desire to improve the economic condition of local residents and put vacant plots of land at the foothills of Mount Salak to good use, Rien Surie made the decision to give up her office job and switch to growing passion fruit.
Rien, born in Jakarta on May 15, 1955, was formerly the director of PT Multi Sarana Nusa Indofish, a fisheries company. In 2001, she gave up her position and closed down the company, as she wanted to take a long-deserved rest and enjoy life in the countryside.
"It struck me to grow passion fruit back in 2001, when I saw that the passion fruit vines in the backyard of my home in Tamansari village were bearing a lot of fruit," Rien told The Jakarta Post recently.
"The fruit was good and sweet-smelling. Everyday I picked some fruits and turned them into syrup for my own use," she said.
Rien then began to grow passion fruit on her 4-hectare plot of land in Tamansari, Bogor regency. She read books on how to grow passion fruit and researched recipes that used the exotic fruit.
She discovered that passion fruit contained many antioxidants and regular consumption of the fruit could ward off cancer. She also learned that the seeds could be processed into cosmetic powder for the skin, while the fruit pulp could be turned into syrup and cider.
The leaves, she said, could be used as compost and the stems in fogging insecticide to kill pests found on the vines.
In 2003, Rien, a law graduate from Muhammadiyah University, Jakarta, began to make passion fruit syrup in large quantities for sale in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi and Bali.
In 2007, she stopped producing passion fruit syrup and instead focused on producing passion fruit extract.
The extract Rien makes is usually bought by beverage companies.
"I prefer making passion fruit extract as I don't have to go to the trouble of marketing it. Instead, beverage companies approach me and buy my extract, which I sell at Rp 20,000 per liter. Today there are four companies that regularly buy this extract from me," she said.
Rien said the sales prospects for her passion fruit extract were very healthy, as the four companies each buy 1,000 liters of passion fruit extract a week.
To meet such large orders, Rien encouraged the vegetable growers in Tamansari village to grow passion fruit as a side crop to make use of their dormant plots of land around Mount Salak.
Passion fruit, she told the local farmers, was very easy to grow and could be harvested every two weeks.
There are now 20 farmers that grow passion fruit in Tamansari. On average, each farmer grows 50 passion fruit vines. Once a fortnight, Rien purchases the passion fruit grown and harvested by these farmers at Rp 2,000 per kilogram.
Today, passion fruit is also grown in Cinangneng village, Bogor regency, where some 60 families grow the sweet fruit.
The farmers are able to earn bigger profits from selling passion fruit than they do from selling their vegetables: They can make some Rp 2 million a month from selling passion fruit, compared to the Rp 300,000 from selling vegetables.
Growing passion fruit has not only put previously unused land to good use, but it has also raised the standard of living of the people in Tamansari village.
"I want to make Bogor a passion fruit center because the weather and soil are suitable for passion fruit cultivation. Besides, I feel happy to see the people around me live well and independently," Rien said.
Aside from guiding the local farmers to grow passion fruit successfully, Rien also regularly teaches the local women how to make passion fruit syrup.
Rien also helped local residents lobby the local government to build a 3 km-long road that the farmers could access to better market their farm produce. Without this road, local farmers were forced to take their farm produce to market by foot, as the existing road was in a very poor condition.
