East Jakarta City Government Harvests 90 kg of Inthanon Melons to Boost Food Security

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The East Jakarta City Government (Pemkot Jaktim) has stated that the second harvest of Inthanon melons, yielding around 90 kilograms (kg), represents tangible efforts to promote food security in the area. “Alhamdulillah, today we harvested around 30 melons. Averaging 2.6 to 3.3 kilograms per fruit, the total comes to approximately 90 kilograms,” said East Jakarta Mayor Munjirin during the harvest of Inthanon melons in RW 012 Cipinang Melayu, Makasar, East Jakarta, on Friday. Munjirin, who attended the harvest event in person, appreciated the farmers’ achievements. According to him, the harvest results show that urban farming can make a real contribution to food security. “We continue to demonstrate our commitment to supporting urban agriculture development through this melon harvest,” Munjirin stated. He mentioned that this achievement is the result of hard work by the farming group, supported by various parties, including Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) assistance from Bank Jakarta. He hopes that such support can continue so that agricultural productivity in East Jakarta increases further. “This is quite maximal for urban land standards. We hope the collaboration with CSR can continue and assist other farming groups,” Munjirin said. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Geber Tabur Farming Group, Amin, explained that this harvest is a continuation of the previous one, which produced 53 melons. “Besides the quantity, the quality of the melons produced is also considered good. The fruit’s sweetness level reaches 14 brix, indicating a sufficiently high sweetness and competitiveness in the market,” Amin stated. In addition to melons, the farming group is also developing various other commodities, including chillies, eggplants, cucumbers, okra, and curly chillies. This diversification is carried out to maximise land utilisation while increasing economic value for group members. Furthermore, Amin revealed that the success of harvesting up to 90 kilograms proves that urban agriculture can develop productively if supported by strong collaboration between the government, community, and private sector. Besides strengthening food security, the activity also opens new business opportunities for residents amid limited land in urban areas. The Inthanon melon harvest took place in the Farming Geber Tabor area, RW 12, Cipinang Melayu Ward, Makassar District, East Jakarta, utilising a plot of 1,296 square metres. The cultivation of this fruit type was conducted inside a modern greenhouse, which is the result of support from Bank Jakarta’s CSR programme. In the market, one such melon can be priced at up to around Rp100,000. Therefore, Inthanon melons are believed to be a potential commodity for increasing community income.