Jokowi: We Have Many Typical Fruits, But Low Consumption

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo revealed that Indonesia has a wide variety of fruits, but the consumption level is still low.

"Although we have a lot of Indonesian fruits, our fruit consumption level is still low, 88.5 grams per person per day, still far below the WHO recommendation of 150 grams per person per day," President Jokowi said via video conference. in the Opening of the 2021 Fruits Archipelago Title, reported by Antara, Monday, August 9.

President Jokowi also invited the public to consume more fruits.

"In the current pandemic, we must continue to maintain stamina and increase body immunity, namely by consuming more fruits and vegetables to stay healthy and avoid disease," said the President.

Moreover, according to President Jokowi, Indonesia has many unique fruits that are easy to obtain, affordable, and contain many vitamins that are healthy for the body.

"Therefore, I invite all Indonesians to consume more fruits, to love various Indonesian fruits, which are abundant with nutritional content that is not inferior to imported fruit," said the President.

According to the President, consuming fruit from the archipelago is not only increasing nutritional intake during the pandemic but also helping fruit farmers so that they are more enthusiastic, more productive and more prosperous.

"Fruit business actors will also develop further so that the national fruit business ecosystem will move more and more forward. We want Indonesian fruit to be more popular, more popular, not only by the domestic community, but also by entering the international market," the President said.

According to the President, the potential for the fruit export market is still very wide open, the opportunities are still very promising.

"We have exported mangoes, pineapples, bananas, mangosteens to various countries. We want to export more various Indonesian fruits so that Indonesian fruits are also favored by people in various countries," added the President.

In order to enter the international market, the President said there is only one key.

"Nusantara fruit must be more competitive, both in terms of price and quality, the price must be competitive, the taste is maintained, the supply continues, the production never breaks, the packaging is also attractive, therefore the archipelago fruit business ecosystem must continue to be arranged from upstream to downstream. , said the President.

Fruit farmers must be assisted with the latest information and science so that their productivity can increase, besides that access to capital must also be strengthened, storage technology must be better, supply chains must also be more efficient, connectivity between regions and also for fruit exports must also be smoother.

Furthermore, the promotion of the fruit of the archipelago domestically and abroad must also be increased by presenting a more attractive marketing strategy, using contemporary methods by utilizing technological advances.

"I also ask for education to consume the fruits of the archipelago to be carried out sustainably, be included in the message content in our education system in schools, convey it continuously as part of family and community education so that it reaches our children so that the younger generation loves them more. local fruits," said the President. President Jokowi hopes that the Nusantara Fruit Festival can be a momentum for the revival of Indonesian fruits, spur increased productivity, improve the quality of Indonesian fruits so that they are more competitive, and reduce dependence on imported fruit.

"Let's continue to increase the consumption of fruit from the archipelago, we consume more, we distribute it as a form of solidarity as a form of concern and empathy to be more resilient against the pandemic," said the President.