The government is planning to develop up to 400,000 hectares of new fruit plantations across the country in the next few years in an attempt to improve both the quantity and quality of local fruit production to boost exports and survive competition against imported products.

The program, if well implemented, will help local farmers garner additional profits of about Rp 120 trillion (US$9 billion) annually, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said on Monday.

“Six state-owned plantation firms in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi have been involved in this development program,” he said.

One of the companies, PT Perkebunan Nusantara VIII (PTPN VIII), for example, has developed around 22,000 ha of fruit plantations in the West Java cities of Sukabumi, Subang and Garut.

The new plantation areas will be used to grow fruit that has major commercial value,...