Agribusiness, a long bumpy road ahead<\/p>\n
Text and photo by Sri Wahyuni<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Hoping that agribusiness would some day
\nbecome the number one source of income for Yogyakarta seems to be
\ntoo optimistic, regardless of the fact that the tiny province is
\na location for fertile soil. Limited land, and to some extent,
\nlocal farmers' attitudes, seem to be the main problems.<\/p>\n
According to head of the agribusiness development section of
\nYogyakarta provincial agriculture office, Mulyono, the province
\nhad the resources to develop agribusiness but could not do so any
\nfurther because the land was limited in area.<\/p>\n
The province, he said, was blessed with soil so fertile,
\nthanks to Mt. Merapi, that you could plant almost anything on it.
\nVegetables, including the economically high-value ones such as
\nasparagus, broccoli and snow peas; horticulture plantations like
\nmango, durian, and noted Pondoh Zalacca fruit; crops, and of
\ncourse rice, grew well in the region.<\/p>\n
\"Market demand, too, is enormous. Yet, again, we always have
\ndifficulties in meeting the ordered volume of the agribusiness
\nproducts due mostly to limited land on which to plant and the
\nbehavior of the farmers,\" Mulyono said.<\/p>\n
The problem is also evident, even for Pondoh Zalacca, or Salak
\nPondoh (colloquially known as snake-fruit, due to the appearance
\nof its skin) as it is locally known, regardless of the fact that
\nthe fruit has long been the province's \"trade mark\" as well as a
\nhigh-quality commodity.<\/p>\n
Yogyakarta currently has some 3.5 million to four million
\nsalak plants occupying some 1,500 hectares (ha) of land, mostly
\nin Sleman regency. Each of the plants usually produces some 20
\nkilograms (kg) to 25 kg of fruit per year, meaning that the
\nprovince's total production of the fruit is between 70,000 tons
\nand 100,000 tons.<\/p>\n
Yet, the province often finds it difficult to meet large-
\nvolume orders because most farmers own only limited land on which
\nto grow the plant. Moreover, most of them have different
\nharvesting times, making it more difficult to collect large
\namounts of salak at one time to meet the orders.<\/p>\n
\"The nature of the fruit, too, creates another problem in
\nfulfilling the required quality of the products,\" said Yustina
\nSutarmi, head of the agribusiness supervision, agricultural and
\nhorticultural product processing subdivision.<\/p>\n
\"This particular fruit is already edible even when it is still
\nvery young. Other kinds of salak, including Salak Bali and Salak
\nGading, are usually bitter when they are still young,\" said
\nSutarmi, adding that that had often motivated some farmers to
\nharvest their fruit while still young.<\/p>\n
Buyers usually require top, grade-A quality products for
\nexport purposes. This means that, among other things, the
\nrequired product should not be harvested young, and there is also
\na need for a selection phase to choose those of the required size
\nbefore the fruit are sold.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, farmers were mostly reluctant to do so because
\nthey could still sell the product at a reasonable price to
\nbrokers, Sutarmi said.<\/p>\n
\"We have been providing supervision since 1985, but most
\nfarmers are still reluctant to do such things. It's
\nunderstandable because most brokers do not offer adequate
\neconomic appreciation for such efforts,\" said Sutarmi, adding
\nthat similar supervision was currently provided for salak
\nbrokers.<\/p>\n
Other superior agribusiness commodities that the province has
\nbeen developing or maintaining include, among others, mango and
\ncassava in Gunung Kidul regency, mangosteen and durian in Kulon
\nProgo regency, food crops and chili in Bantul regency, and salak
\nPondoh and vegetables in Sleman regency.<\/p>\n
Pilot project<\/p>\n
According to Mulyono, the development of agribusiness in the
\nprovince was done through an integrated program of KPPE, or
\ndistricts as the center of economic development, involving 14
\ndistricts with potential from 78 in the province.<\/p>\n
Plantation of economically high-value vegetables, such as snow
\npeas and asparagus, for example, currently occurs in the
\ndistricts of Cangkringan and Pakem on the slope of Mt. Merapi.
\nThe pilot project was conducted in cooperation with the
\ngovernment of the Republic of China (Taiwan) through the
\nAgriculture Technical Mission (ATM) scheme.<\/p>\n
The asparagus pilot project, which has been running for about
\na year in Hargobinangun village in Pakem district, some 20 km
\nnorth of Yogyakarta, produces some 20 kg of asparagus per day.<\/p>\n
Umi Ardiana, a member of staff at the ATM office, said the
\nprogram had prepared some 3,000 ha of land for the pilot project.
\nSo far only 7,000 square meters had been cultivated for the
\nplantations. The project started in October last year, with only
\n1,000 square meters of land to begin with.<\/p>\n
Economic calculations, according to Umi, actually showed that
\nplanting asparagus was more beneficial for farmers, especially as
\nthe plants did not require complicated treatment and could
\nsurvive for about 10 years once they had been planted.<\/p>\n
The pilot project further supported the calculation because
\nthe soil was indeed suitable for the plants and could yield about
\nthree kg to four kg of asparagus per day per 1,000 square meters,
\nwhich was a good harvest.<\/p>\n
Yet, field experience showed that local farmers did not seem
\nto be interested in the business, especially as they had to wait
\nfor about a year before they could harvest the plantation.<\/p>\n
\"This, as I see it, is what seems to be hard to bear because
\nfor the entire first year the farmers could harvest nothing,
\nwhile they would have had no other source of income on which to
\nrely,\" Umi explained.<\/p>\n
Therefore, under such circumstances, it would have been
\ndifficult for the region to fulfill market demand for a minimum
\nof 500 kg of asparagus per container per shipment, preventing it
\nfrom exporting the commodity.<\/p>\n
\"The only commodity that we have been exporting by ourselves
\nto Taiwan is snow peas,\" said Umi, adding that the snow peas
\nplantation started in 1997 and covered an area of about 14.5 ha
\nin Cangkringan and Pakem districts.<\/p>\n
The plantation was carried out using the nucleus-plasma
\nmechanism, in which the project provided the farmers with free
\nseedlings, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides for the first
\nyear. Farmers needed only to prepare the nets to cover the
\nplantation, and to supply additional fertilizer.<\/p>\n
Exporting was done between once a week and twice a week, with
\nthree tons to four tons of snow peas per container per shipment.<\/p>\n
\"More and more farmers are joining the project because they
\nhave learned from their colleagues that the business is truly
\nbeneficial. Most of them prefer to avoid the risks inherent in
\ntrial and error,\" said Umi.<\/p>\n
Another example of an agribusiness commodity that the province
\nis exporting is dried cassava, locally known as gaplek. Gunung
\nKidul, which is known for its dry areas, is the home of some
\n50,000 ha of cassava fields, producing about 15 tons to 20 tons
\nof gaplek per ha per year.<\/p>\n
Again, this volume of product has not yet been able to fulfill
\nexport demands and cannot be further expanded due to the limited
\nplantation area. Exports, mostly to the United States and Korea,
\nare currently carried out via a third party. Similar methods have
\nbeen adopted for other commodities.<\/p>\n
\"This is why it has been difficult for us to obtain precise
\ndata about the province's agribusiness products, as most of them
\nare sold via third parties,\" Sutarmi said.<\/p>\n
According to Sutarmi, the regional policy seemed to place more
\nemphasis on how to enable farmers in the region to make optimal
\nuse of their limited land in order to survive by trying to
\nmaximize their earnings. That's why the smart idea of planting
\nsaleable types of commodity was met with high motivation.<\/p>\n
\"That's what the local government has been promoting,\" Sutarmi
\nsaid.<\/p>",
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