Indonesia to grow its own spices

Indonesia to grow its own spices

SEMARANG, Central Java: The Association of Indonesian
Producers and Exporters of Medicinal Plants (APETOI) plans to
cultivate here 14 kinds medicinal plants usually imported from
abroad.

"The cultivation of the medicinal plants, such as coriander,
white and red cumin, anise and cardamom, is an effort to decrease
the country's dependence on imported medicinal plants, which so
far are brought from countries like South Korea, China, India and
Egypt," APETOI chairman Hartono Chandra said here on Thursday.

He expressed optimism that farmers here would succeed in
cultivating such plants to meet the country's needs for such raw
materials used for producing medicine, cosmetics and food
seasoning.

According to Chandra, Indonesia itself is already well known
in the world as a producer of medicinal plants. However, due to
high local demand, the import of such materials is still
necessary.

Antara reported that one of the first steps the Association
would take was to establish a cooperative arrangement with top
universities in the country to conduct a feasibility study.