ASEAN launches e-Farmers project

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian farmers will be able to sell agricultural products via the Internet thanks to an ambitious project launched by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Tuesday.

ASEAN and its partner, a Singapore-based company called Agritani International, have chosen Jambi province, a key producers of rubber and palm oil in South Sumatra, as their first pilot project for the ASEAN e-Farmers hub project.

"With more up-to-date and easily accessible information on the e-hub, productivity and efficiency throughout the food supply chain, from farmers to food processing plants, supermarket, retailers and consumers can be immensely improved," ASEAN secretary general Rodolfo C. Severino said during the inauguration ceremony in Jakarta.

The regional grouping said in a statement that the program in Jambi would involve one hundred cooperatives and the farmers would be trained to use the technological system.

According to Vic Albornoz Lactaoen, the ASEAN secretariat senior officer for public information, the farmers in Jambi would use the hub in Indonesian and there would be a mediator when they attempted trade negotiations with overseas buyers.

ASEAN plans to start the US$20 million project in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand within the year, followed by Malaysia and the Philippines next year.

ASEAN expects to establish 15,000 e-hubs across the region and bring 10 million farmers online over the next 3 years to 4 years.

The project is projected to create 10,000 new small and medium enterprises, increase ASEAN agriculture exports by 30 percent and increase the average net income of ASEAN farmers by 50 percent.