Carrefour helps promote local fruit

At least 15 groups of tropical fruit and vegetables featured in “Promotion of Indonesia’s Tropical Fruit Development, Fruit Festival 2009” at Carrefour Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta. The festival, designed to develop the market for Indonesian fruit, was run from Nov. 13 through Nov. 15.

Fruit on display featured superior ones, such as mangoes, durian, salak (snake fruit) and bananas. The fruit came from the provinces of East, West and Central Java, Yogyakarta, South, East and West Kalimantan, Bengkulu and Bali.

Fruit Festival 2009 was jointly organized by the Department of Agriculture, Carrefour, Danone Aqua and the House of Change.

PT Carrefour’s president director Shafie Shamsuddin said that despite the great potential, local fruit still lacked exposure due to problems related to guaranteed supply, consistent quality and distribution.

“Lack of promotion and market access has also hampered the development of the fruit. We are pleased to serve as a medium that fruit farmers can use to promote their products to our customers. Hopefully, fruit producers that supply their products to Carrefour can take advantage of our network so that their superior products can be further developed and even exported to other countries,” he said.