PROMOTE LOCAL FRUITS INTERNATIONALLY, URGES PRESIDENT JOKOWI by Fardah

Jakarta, Nov 28, 2015 (Antara) - Bogor City is hosting the 2015 Nusantara Flower and Fruit Festival (FBBN) from November 27 to 29. It is being organized by the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB).  
   The theme for the third FBBN is "Revolution in Nusantara Fruits and Flowers Cultivation By Small and Medium Businesses for the Welfare of the Indonesian Nation."
   Various kinds of activities have been organized to mark the event, including a small and medium local fruit and flower business and investment forum, "Fruitpreneur got talent", an exposition, and a fruit and flowers bourse and bazaar, in addition to an oranges and mangoes contest, a carnival, and a fruit and flowers declaration by 48 district heads.

        "Through this festival, we wish to show that we have the potential, and the question is how to market it," President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said in his opening remarks during the Nusantara Flower and Fruit Festival, organized at the IPB campus, Bogor, West Java, on Nov. 28.    
   President Jokowi lauded the initiative of the IPB to launch the Orange Revolution aimed at increasing the national fruit production, improve the fruit quality and maintain continuity in production.   

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

        Indonesia needs a revolutionary movement to cope with imported fruits flooding the country's markets, Jokowi said.

        Jokowi has asked the IPB to help promote local fruits internationally by organizing a larger scale flower and fruit festival.

        "This is an instruction to the minister, that next year, the IPB should be given the task to organize a larger-scale Nusantara fruit and flower festival to be attended by international buyers so that they get to know the potential and strength of the nusantara (archipelago) fruits and flowers. These should be promoted and publicized," he said.

        Every Indonesian embassy must invite potential buyers in their host countries to participate in the next festival, he said.

        Indonesian fruits could be marketed in many hypermarkets overseas, so that the income of the country's farmers could be increased, the President hoped.

        He appreciated the commitment of some districts and cities to provide 50 hectares of land for fruit plantations in each region.

        It is not necessary for all of the country's 516 districts/cities to join the Orange Revolution program, but if some of the potential ones do so, it will be enough, he added.     
   The head of state also instructed the state plantation company, PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN), to plant fruits on 10 thousand hectares.   
   He stated PTPN must not only focus on tree-planting activities, but also on developing a fruit processing industry and a marketing mechanism for the fruits.

        The President also emphasized the need to encourage the younger generation to consume local fruits.

        The festival's organizer, IPB Rector Prof Herry Suhardiyanto, expressed the hope that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) will fully support national fruit cultivation to increase production and improve its competitiveness internationally.  
   Indonesia is the fifth largest producer of salak and rambutan in the world.  
   The country has seven fruits that place it at the 20th rank in the list of the world's largest fruit producers. These fruits are avocado, banana, papaya, and pineapple, in addition to oranges, watermelon, and a combination of mangosteen, mango and guava.

        However, only pineapple juice concentrate and canned pineapple could fully compete internationally.

        Among the problems facing Indonesia's fruit exports are inconsistent production, poor quality, inferior supporting technologies, and a lack of supply guarantee.

        In 2013, Indonesia exported fresh and dried fruits amounting to 37.8 thousand tons, worth US$22.5 million. It also exported 187.9 thousand tons of processed fruits, worth US$172.7 million.

       In 2013, the country imported fresh and dried fruit amounting to 502.3 thousand tons worth US$647.3 million, as well as processed fruit amounting to 27.7 thousand tons worth US$46.9 million, as per the data from the Central Bureau of Statistics.

        Some 98.8 percent of the total fresh and dried fruit imports  consisted of apple at 27.1 percent, orange at 18.2 percent, grape at 16.3 percent, and longan at 10.3 percent, in addition to dates at 5.8 percent, dragon fruit at 1.7 percent, kiwi at 1.4 percent, and durian at 1.1 percent.

        The IPB rector regretted that though Indonesia is rich in exotic fruits that are produced all year long, huge amounts of fruit were being imported.

       Indonesia has more varieties of fruits that taste much better than imported ones, he said.

       In the meantime, Bogor Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto has designated the Nusantara Flower and Fruit Festival as a new icon of the rainy city.

       The festival is in line with the city's program to develop Bogor as a "Park City," he said in a press statement recently.

       "We support the event and are all for it to become the annual agenda of Bogor," the mayor said.***3***
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(T.F001/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 28-11-2015 21:57:33