Head of the Indonesian Quarantine Agency Abdul Kadir Karding: Strengthening the Quarantine System is Needed to Increase the Competitiveness of Commodities

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Quarantine Agency (Barantin) has strengthened four quarantine systems to encourage the export of animal, fish and plant commodities.

Head of Barantin Abdul Kadir Karding said that strengthening the quarantine system is necessary to increase the competitiveness of Indonesian commodities in the international market.

"The market sees the first is quality, the second is biosecurity or biological security, the third is traceability, the fourth is that what is important is trust," said Karding in an official statement received in Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Saturday, June 13.

In the opening of the Nusatic exhibition, Nusapetdan Nusahorti 2026, Karding said the four systems strengthened by Barantin include biosecurity, digital traceability, pre-border cooperation, and fast clearance system.

According to him, the international market currently demands a change in the paradigm of trade, especially in terms of quality, safety, traceability and trust.

He emphasized that biosecurity is a duty for business actors who want to penetrate the global market.

Karding said that the implementation of quarantine standards and improvements to the trading system had increased international market confidence in several Indonesian biological commodities, including ornamental fish.

"In my opinion, Indonesia already has confidence, so it's not just the potential of many varieties, but also Indonesia has made improvements in various fields so that it is trusted by the international market in the field of ornamental fish," he said.

He assessed that the better trading ecosystem from the strengthening of the four systems has the potential to encourage Indonesia to become a leader in the ornamental fish trade.

In addition, Barantin also encourages the implementation of Good Fish Quarantine Method (CKIB) to ensure the quality of Indonesian ornamental fish.

"Currently, a total of 128 ornamental fish quarantine facilities with CKIB have been recognized by the General Administration of China Customs or GACC," said Karding.

He said that the transformation of Barantin was carried out by changing the manual inspection approach to a risk-based approach.

The transformation also includes the change of paper-based documents to digital integration, as well as post-border control supervision or after the goods enter the border passively to pre-border control or supervision before the goods enter actively and preventively.

In addition to carrying out the function of supervision, Barantin also plays a role as a trade facilitator through company assistance, opening market access, and accelerating quarantine services.

According to Karding, the acceleration of the process can reduce costs, while the implementation of biosecurity and traceability can increase market confidence so that it has an impact on higher selling prices.

He said that Barantin continued to coordinate with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Research and Innovation Agency, business actors, exporters and legislators to strengthen the quarantine system and increase the competitiveness of Indonesian export commodities.