Coordinating Ministry For Economic Affairs Encourages The Development Of Export-Oriented Horticulture To China

Farmers harvest mustard greens at a horticultural product center in Pakis, Malang, East Java (Photo: Ari Bowo Sucipto / Antara)

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs is encouraging the development of export-oriented horticultural commodities in partnership with several local governments.

Secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Susiwijono Moegiarso stated that this cooperation was carried out as a step to improve economic equality in the regions and the availability of quality food sources.

"There are five main export destinations for Indonesian fruit products, namely China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan", he said in Jakarta, as reported by Antara, Tuesday, April 6.

Local governments collaborating with the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy in this regard include Tanggamus District, Lampung; Jembrana Regency, Bali; Bener Meriah District, Aceh; and Blitar, Bondowoso, and Ponorogo in East Java.

Susiwijono said the initial planting of horticultural commodity development carried out in Ponorogo Regency will become a role model for agribusiness management through partnerships with business actors who have competency for export.

BPS noted that the agricultural sector contributed 13.70 percent to the national gross domestic product (GDP) or the second largest after the manufacturing sector or 19.88 percent.

In the January-February 2021 period, exports of the agricultural sector amounted to $ 0.65 billion, an increase of 10.17 percent from the January-February 2020 period of $ 0.59 billion.

"This shows that the agricultural sector makes a huge contribution to the Indonesian economy and has proven to be resilient and resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic", he said.

Meanwhile, during the 2020 pandemic, there were $ 389.9 million in actual export value of fresh and processed fruits with $ 96.3 million of which were exports of fresh fruits, which increased 30.31 percent compared to 2019.

Exports of processed pineapple products made the largest contribution, amounting to 70.30 percent of total processed exports in 2020, while banana exports contributed six percent to total exports of fresh fruits.

According to him, this condition shows that Indonesian fruit products are in demand by the global market so that it needs to be developed to increase product competitiveness and increase the contribution of fruit exports to the country's foreign exchange.

On the other hand, Susiwijono said that in the development of horticulture in Indonesia, there are still problems and challenges such as weak human resources (HR) and farmer institutions.

Then also limited capital, lack of assistance and technological innovation, low competitiveness, and lack of market access.

Therefore, he emphasized that partnership cooperation with farmers needs to be encouraged so that they can be assisted in designing production patterns to marketing so that farmers become independent and resilient.

He ensured that his party would coordinate the integration of the provision of social forestry land, increase production, product quality, and competitiveness, and increase access to finance for farmers through KUR.

Also, through increasing market access through e-commerce, logistical support, construction of transportation infrastructure as well as support for tariff policies and international trade.

He said the partnership model with PT Great Giant Pineapple (GGP) is an example of a breakthrough strategy to generate interest in banana farmers to enter into export-oriented agribusiness.

However, the partnership pattern is emphasized on the creating shared value (CSV) approach, namely the integration of the roles of all involved parties to provide added value.