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ndonesia has started to commercially grow and export chrysanthemum flowers to a variety of foreign markets, particularly Japan.

The word chrysanthemum is derived from the Greek chrysos, meaning gold, and anthemon, meaning flower. Originally, the flower came from East Asia, and China is the center of chrysanthemum diversity.

The modern cultivation program in Indonesia started in Malino, Makassar, South Sulawesi. PT Bunga Indah Malino has managed to grow export-quality chrysanthemums and Japanese company D-Market has agreed to buy the flowers from Malino for the next two years.

At the beginning, PT Bunga Indah Malino will export 6,000 chrysanthemum stalks per week to Osaka.

'€œMore flowers are needed for export purposes. Japan demands 25,000 stalks per week. But we are only able to provide 6,000 stalks,'€ Imelda Jusuf Kalla, the president director of PT Bunga Indah Malino said. The company aims eventually to export 300,000 stalks to Japan per-month.

D-Market president director Murakami Masaki said his company had traveled around the world to find good quality chrysanthemums and the flowers in Malino met Japan'€™s requirements and were suitable for the country'€™s market.

'€œWe need more chrysanthemums, so if the company can produce more, we will take them all,'€ Masaki said, adding that D-market ordered three type of chrysanthemums from Bunga Indah Malino, namely yellow spray, white spray and pink fiji.

He did not reveal the prices, saying only they would be competitive just like in other areas. Today people in Indonesia can buy domestic chrysanthemums for Rp 2,500 (19 US cents) per stalk.

According to Masaki, the chrysanthemum is a very important flower in Japan and is used for many events, including funerals, birthdays and Japanese holidays. Japan uses 600 to 700 million stalks of chrysanthemums every year.

Currently, D-Market imports chrysanthemums mostly from Malaysia and China.

Imelda, who is a daughter of Vice President Jusuf Kalla, said the company would prepare more greenhouses for the order.

'€œWe will also involve local people in growing chrysanthemums. This will generate income,'€ Imelda said, adding that the company would provide seeds and teach people how to cultivate chrysanthemums.

Imelda said the involvement of local people was very important because the orders could not be fulfilled by her company alone.

'€œThey can sell the production to us, if it can not be exported, we still need chrysanthemums for the domestic market,'€ Imelda said.

To meet export criteria, a stalk should be 75 centimeters in length, with at least eight buds and a stalk diameter of 5 millimeters.

Bunga Indah Malino head of production Abdul Kadir said the flower needed 100 days to grow.

'€œThe quality is better if we grow chrysanthemums in cooler uplands,'€ Abdul said.

Imelda said several foreign countries, such as Australia had shown an interest in buying chrysanthemums from Malino as well.

'€œAs we have penetrated Japan'€™s market with its strict requirements, our chrysanthemums will be attractive to other countries,'€ she said.

Agriculture Ministry expert Ani Andayani said Indonesia cultivated chrysanthemums in several upland areas in Indonesia, such as Bogor, West Java, and Malang, East Java.

The ministry has also developed 20 varieties of chrysanthemums in various colors.

Based on Ministry data, Indonesia has 964 hectares of chrysanthemums plantation in 10 provinces producing 427 million stalks in total.