City vows to keep Ragunan orchid park<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has vowed to retain the
\nonly orchid park it owns in Ragunan, South Jakarta, in an effort
\nto keep its green campaign alive, a deputy governor says.<\/p>\n
R.S. Museno, deputy governor on social affairs, said over the
\nweekend that the administration will not eliminate green areas to
\nmake way for high-rise buildings. \"Therefore, this five-hectare
\norchid park must be preserved as part of the city's green areas,\"
\nMuseno said while opening the Orchid Park Promotion Week in
\nRagunan on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The promotion week, which ends on May 19, consists of a
\nseminar, orchid arrangement contest, orchid cultivation
\npresentation and orchid bazaar. All activities are being held at
\nthe orchid park in Ragunan.<\/p>\n
The park, established in 1973, will also function as an orchid
\ndevelopment center, where new types of orchids are seeded and
\npeople are trained to plant and care for orchids correctly,
\nMuseno said. \"In this way, the park is expected to play a role in
\norchid exports.\"<\/p>\n
The head of the city agriculture agency, Ruchiyat
\nPadmakusumah, said on Saturday that most orchid farmers at the
\npark are still facing several hurdles in terms of export
\ncompetition with other countries, including Thailand.<\/p>\n
\"Most of the farmers cannot consistently produce a large
\nnumber of good quality orchids,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He explained that the only way to produce a mass quantity of
\norchids is through tissue culture technology. He said his office
\nis beginning to introduce the technology to the farmers.<\/p>\n
The April 17, 1995 edition of Indonesia Business Weekly
\nindicated that -- from 1991 to 1994 -- Singapore, Hong Kong,
\nJapan and Saudi Arabia were constant buyers of Indonesian
\norchids.<\/p>\n
Since 1993, Japan and Saudi Arabia have not made any further
\npurchases of Indonesian orchids. In 1993 and 1994, Singapore
\nbought 526.8 tons of orchids from Indonesia and Hong Kong bought
\n367.4 tons.<\/p>\n
Poorly promoted<\/p>\n
Ruchiyat said his office is also helping the farmers with
\ndifferent types of training, including improving their skills in
\ncreating new types of orchids.<\/p>\n
However, Ruchiyat said only a few Jakartans know about the
\npark and its facilities, due to a lack of promotion.<\/p>\n
\"This initial promotion activity is aimed at making those
\norchid lovers and those interested in planting the flower aware
\nof the park's existence,\" Ruchiyat said.<\/p>\n
The park is part of Pasar Minggu's agro-tourism center. The
\nother sources of interest are the Ragunan zoo, a horticulture
\nseed plantation, a Ciganjur fruit plantation, a fishery center
\nand Babakan lake, all of which can attract tourists from other
\nprovinces or countries.<\/p>\n
The orchid park is divided into 40 plots for the farmers, who
\neach rent a 1,000 square-meter area. The farmers are only charged
\nRp 25,000 (US$10.86) in monthly rental fees by the
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
\"Most of them are small-scale orchid farmers and we are
\nhelping them to develop their business,\" Ruchiyat said, adding
\nthat there are more than 100 types of orchids in the park.<\/p>\n
The flower's price ranges from Rp 400 to Rp 40,000 each.
\n(yns)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/city-vows-to-keep-ragunan-orchid-park-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}