Barantin Develops AI-Based Digital System to Make Things Easier for Exporters
The Indonesian Quarantine Agency (Barantin) is working with the World Bank to develop an integrated digital system called the Integrated National Quarantine Biosecurity and Traceability System (INQUEST). The artificial intelligence (AI)-based system is intended to strengthen biosecurity standards and make export commodity traceability more accessible throughout Indonesia.
Barantin chief Abdul Kadir Karding said exporters’ compliance with biosecurity and product traceability standards had become an absolute requirement imposed by almost all export destinations.
“We are working with the World Bank on a traceability concept that will be easy for the public or exporters to access,” Karding said at a Barantin RI discussion with dozens of exporters from West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) in Mataram on Friday (13 November 2026).
Karding explained that INQUEST was being designed as a nationally integrated digital application equipped with AI. He said the AI features were expected to speed up responses to businesses’ technical questions about standards, at any time and from anywhere.
“It will take the form of applications that the public can access at any time. They will be equipped with AI, so questions that can be answered according to standard guidance can be handled immediately throughout Indonesia,” Karding said.
Preventing export suspensions
Alongside preparations for the digital system, Karding highlighted the suspension of several Indonesian exporters in the Chinese market. Amid shifting global trade conflicts, he said the agency needed to begin by making improvements internally.
To prevent similar cases from recurring, Karding has instructed the Deputy for Animal Quarantine to conduct strict, regular audits of companies that have been recommended, or are to be recommended, for export, particularly those dealing in swiftlet nests and durians.
“We are still giving the benefit of the doubt that these suspensions are genuinely due to our own shortcomings. I have asked the Animal Quarantine deputy’s team to carry out internal audits of existing exporters as well as companies we are considering recommending for export,” said Karding, a politician from the National Awakening Party (PKB).
Karding said he was not hesitant to impose temporary domestic suspensions before a company was rejected by its destination country. The measure, he said, was intended to prompt businesses to improve their quality and biosecurity standards.
“We need to strengthen things at home rather than suffer the embarrassment. I have suspended some companies before they are suspended by the destination country, so they can make improvements,” Karding said.
“We have provided serious assistance; one of my directors even supported a company from 8am until 9pm. But if some companies are acting improperly and refuse to improve, then that is up to them,” he added.