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Indonesia eyes US$9 billion in fruit, flower business
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Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman (third left) poses for a photo with Danish Environment and Agriculture Minister Esben Lunde Larsen (second right) after an MoU signing ceremony at the Agricultural Ministry on April 12. Under the agreement, the Danish government will invest Rp 2 trillion in the agriculture sector in Indonesia. (thejakartapost.com/Anton Hermansyah)
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he Agriculture Ministry is aiming to increase the value of Indonesian flower and fruit farming by Rp 120 trillion (US$9 billion) by pushing promotion, revitalizing plantations and boosting local fruit consumption.
Indonesian fruit exports reached $37 million in 2015, a 30 percent increase from $28.9 million in 2014, said Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman.
Indonesia’s main export crops are bananas, oranges, mangoes, papaya and pineapples, with the US, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Spain and the Netherlands as the main destination countries.
“Our fruit exports continue to increase on top of meeting our local demand,” Amran said at his office in South Jakarta, during the soft launch of the ‘Fruits and Flowers International Festival’ scheduled to run from November 17 to November 20 in Bogor, West Java.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s main export flower varieties are orchids, roses, jasmines, chrysanthemum and tuberoses.
To increase fruit production, the government will provide 400,000 hectares of land in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi. The program has started with 100,000 hectares in cooperation with state-owned companies.
Rector of Bogor Agriculture Institute (IPB) Herry Suhardiyanto said Indonesia must step up its fruit production to the plantation scale, focusing on 12 fruit commodities, including durian, orange, papaya and pineapple.
“Fruits can be an instrument for food diversification that will make Indonesia the largest tropical fruits producer in the world by 2045,” he said, adding that the upcoming international festival could help achieve this objective.
The four-day festival will feature 500 international trade visitors including importers, distributors and wholesalers from Asia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the US.
It will also display seeds, fruits, flowers, flower and fruit products, agriculture equipment. It is expected to attract 10,000 visitors.
In addition, there will be activities such as business matching, conference, export business coaching, a carnival and fruit and floriculture contests. (sha/ags)
