PROMOTING FLORICULTURE TO BOOST INDONESIA'S ECONOMY by Fardah

Jakarta, July 25, 2017 (Antara) - Various varieties of flowers and fruits are found in Indonesia, though most of them are seasonal, while others are available all year round.

          Indonesia is believed to have a huge potential to become one of the world's largest exporters of flowers and fruits, as the country is blessed with fertile land and fruits as well as flowers that are abundant both qualitatively and quantitatively.    
     Owing to the high fruit production in Indonesia, the country can export them, thereby reducing their imports. According to data of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, in 2014, Indonesia had ranked 20th on the world fruit exporter list.

          President Joko Widodo, in his opening remarks at the Fourth Fruit Indonesia 2016 festival held at the Senayan eastern park area, Jakarta, on Nov 17, expressed optimism about the country's potential in floriculture and horticulture commodity exports.

          This year, a similar optimism was also voiced by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution while opening the Indonesian Floriculture Expo in Jakarta on July 24, which is also designated as Indonesian Floriculture Day.

          The role of floriculture and horticulture commodities in the national economy is growing, according to Nasution.

                "We should invite small- and medium-scale businesses to promote floriculture commercially. Only by doing this can we develop it better," he noted.    

      Thanks to the country's germplasm diversity and tropical climate, floriculture and horticulture commodities can grow well and consequently contribute significantly to the national economic growth, he emphasized.

           To this end, Indonesia should set a measurable target on the production of these commodities.

          "I hope every producing province, district, and city starts to focus on developing these commodities. This is necessary to ensure that the industry enters the international trade arena to earn foreign exchange," he noted.

           He called for improvement, ranging from the planting process and cultivation, to marketing practices.      
    The expo is a campaign to promote the domestic fruit and flower businesses, to reduce imports, and to encourage the public to develop a liking for domestic fruits and flowers.

          The Indonesian Floriculture Expo, initially called the Nusantara Flora and Fruit Festival, has been organized regularly by the Bogor University of Agriculture since 2013 at the initiative of the office of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and in cooperation with the Agriculture Ministry, the Indonesian Flower Association, and several regional and provincial governments.       
     The Nusantara Flower and Fruit Festival is part of the Orange Revolution movement, which is a national movement to revolutionize domestic fruit development, marketing, and policy.

          The Orange Revolution also covers policy revolution, infrastructure, leadership, and human resource management apart from innovation and technology, business systems, and market penetration.

          In 2015, President Joko Widodo had suggested upgrading the festival to an international event and to be held as two separate events: one for fruits and the other for flowers.

          "The objective is to make the events more focused," Syarifah Iis Aisyah of the Indonesian Floriculture organizing committee stated in Bogot, West Java, recently.    
     This year's Indonesian Floriculture Day features a series of activities aimed at boosting the revival of the floriculture industry in the country.

          Among activities organized during the event include a parade of flower-decorated vehicles, seminars, an agriculture bourse, culinary bourse, contests, fashion show, talk show, and marching band show.

          The expo is being held for three days, starting July 24. Visits to the Cianjur ornamental plant research center will be organized on July 26-27. A seminar on ornamental plants will be held on July 29, and on the next day, the Indonesian Floriculture Festival and Parade will be organized at the Bogor Botanical Garden.

          Indonesia's flower varieties that are mainly exported are orchid, rose, jasmine, chrysanthemum, and tuberose.

          However, the floricultural trade in Indonesia remains relatively small scale despite the size of the country and the potential volume of flower exports that could be produced.

          Existing flower production centers are split among six key regions of Indonesia: Jabotabek, North Sumatra, Riau, East Java, West Java, and Central Java.

                  In Asia,  the floriculture industry is worth billions of dollars; the floriculture industry in China alone is valued at more than $11 billion, according to China Horticultural Business Services.

          The other Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia are the main Horticulture production and export to the world.

          In the world, exports of floriculture and horticulture commodities have, so far, been dominated by the Netherlands, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kenya, and India.  ***3***
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(T.F001/A/BESSR/F. Assegaf) 25-07-2017