Garut Agriculture Office develops potential of strawberry and garlic commodities

The Agriculture Office (Dispertan) of Garut Regency, West Java, is working to develop the potential of strawberry and garlic commodities, which could become alternative agricultural ventures alongside Garut’s leading commodities such as rice and potatoes.

“Going forward, the development of these two commodities could become an alternative agricultural business in Garut Regency,” said Head of Garut Regency Dispertan, Ardhy Firdian, in Garut on Tuesday.

He said that Garut Dispertan has continued to optimise agricultural land to make it productive by innovating and developing a number of agricultural commodities with market value.

The effort currently being developed, he said, is the strawberry commodity, which is currently recorded at 112 hectares of strawberry planting land in the Malangbong District area.

“We are identifying land that is suitable for development for garlic and strawberries. For strawberries, they currently only exist in Malangbong District,” he said.

He said another effort to develop these commodities is establishing cooperation with industry regarding the breeding aspect, because the main obstacle to developing both commodities so far has been the availability of seed sources.

“Specifically for garlic, the first thing to be done for development is providing high-quality, labelled and certified seeds,” he said.

In addition, the Garut Regency Government is also supporting the implementation of garlic planting carried out simultaneously by the Garut Resort Police in support of the national food security programme.

The garlic planting programme is being carried out on agricultural land in Kampung Patrol, Cinta Village, Karangtengah District, Garut Regency, which has currently been planted on an area of about 8,000 square metres and is gradually targeted to reach a total planting area of 20.8 hectares in various regions.