T

he potential bounty of Indonesian oranges, bananas and papayas may not be seen anytime soon in overseas markets, as becoming the world’s top fruit producer remains a big challenge.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s ambitious goal to make Indonesia a top fruit exporter in Southeast Asia by 2025 and in the world by 2045 requires at least 400,000 hectares of new fruit plantations by 2025. Currently, most fruit trees are planted on 800,000 ha nationwide.

However, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), whose private sector members will be partly responsible for three-quarters of the new plantation areas, has yet to hear about a grand design to realize the plan.

“Without any grand design and horticulture spatial planning, it will be tough for our fruit industry to grow on a big scale. We have 17,000 islands and lots of unused land. Why not utilize it for fruit?” Kadin horticulture development head Karen Tambayong told The Jakarta Post.

Indonesia’s fruit exports were worth US$775,922 in 2015, mainly to Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand, while imports totaled $666,373, primarily from China and the US, according to data from Trade Map.

The government has stated it will focus on 12 tropical fruits – oranges, bananas, papayas, honeydew melon, watermelon, durian, mangosteen, mangoes, avocados, pineapples, rambutan and snake fruit — in an “orange revolution”, adapted by Jokowi from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) to boost the fruit industry.

The Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister’s food deputy, Musdalifah, said IPB had a plan to realize the goal, pending approval from the government as it had yet to be disseminated to stakeholders and land availability had yet to be cross-checked.

“Yes, we have 189 million hectares of land available but not all is feasible to cultivate, given our topography and the willingness of people to work on it. We also have infrastructure, financing issues in accelerating the fruit industry,” Musdalifah said.

“So, everything remains in a planning stage and the process is not easy. Communication with various stakeholders is needed.”

IPB was hopeful that its comprehensive program could be translated into a consolidated policy, as well as a presidential instruction on the orange revolution, to be issued by year-end to create firm ground for IPB, state institutions and the private sector to work together in accelerating the industry.

IPB’s program includes development plans for small fruit plantations (5 to 50 ha), medium sized (50 to 500 ha) and large scale (over 500 ha). It also covers the use of the latest seeds and technology, manpower and entrepreneur development, fruit processing, as well as integrated marketing for domestic and export markets.

Meanwhile, 14 state plantations firms under PTPN have yet to see action plans, although they will be crucial in developing more fruit plantations, with 100,000 ha, a quarter of the overall land. Their main commodities are cash crops like oil palm, cacao, rubber and sugar cane.

“It’s not decided yet. We’re breaking it down now,” said the Agriculture Ministry’s horticulture director general, Spudnik Sujono.

Even so, PTPN VIII and PTPN XII have put a greater focus on fruit plantations. PTPN VIII, for instance, aims to plant fruit trees on 20,000 ha by 2025 by attracting investors for joint cultivation. Agriculture economist Bustanul Arifin from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) cited confusion and hesitation among stakeholders in taking immediate steps in the absence of formal regulations.

“Concrete actions can be taken while we’re waiting for the policy issuance. The policy also needs to be issued as quickly as possible lest we lose this good momentum and the revolution is forgotten,” he said.