Organic veggies slow to gain popularity

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Consuming organic fruits and vegetables have become a trend in many advanced countries as many studies have shown that the food can help people live healthier and are not grown with environmentally destructive chemicals.

But organic food is not yet popular here.

"People do not get enough information about organic food, therefore most of the Indonesian people are ignorant about the (benefits) of the food. They do not know that consuming it would make them healthier," Hira Jhamtani of the National Consortium for Natural and Forest Sustainability (Konpalindo) told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Organic crops are grown using natural fertilizers such as compost and without chemical fertilizer used in conventional farming.

She said that the government policy was contradictory to the efforts to develop organic plants as it pushes the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers by providing low interest credits for farmers.

"While the use of chemical fertilizers are encouraged by providing the cheap credits, there is no incentive for farmers to apply environmentally friendly farming methods," Hira said.

To supply the farmers with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the Indonesian government has long established a number of state-owned fertilizer companies, which of course gives it a vested interest in maintaining a dependence on chemicals, despite the well-publicized health and environmental problems.

In the capital, there is only one outlet of organic produce, namely the Ranch Market in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta.

Hero Supermarkets used to sell such produce, but they stopped due to limited demand.

"Less than 10 kilograms of organic vegetables are sold per day. It is far smaller compared to the demand for chemically grown vegetables," said Dony Afrizal, a fruit and vegetable supervisor at the Ranch Market in Pondok Indah on Tuesday.

Mulyadi, fruit and vegetable deputy supervisor at Hero Supermarket in Kemang, South Jakarta, said that the retailer gave up selling organic produce due to a lack of demand.

"Several years ago, we sold organic produce, but we stopped as both the demand and the supply were not so good," Mulyadi told the Post.

Their prices are another problem as organic vegetables are more expensive. The price of organic carrots, for example, reaches Rp 12,900 per kilogram as compared to Rp 8,900 for conventional carrots. Organic eggplant is Rp 11,900 per kilogram as compared to Rp 6,500 for conventional eggplant.

Hira said that the prices could be pushed down if the government took some measures to encourage mass cultivation of organic produce.

She also said it was difficult to develop organic farms if they were adjacent to conventional ones as the pests would move from the conventional farm to the organic farm.

There are only a few organic farms in Greater Jakarta. One of them is Agatho Agro's Vegetable farm, developed by Bina Sarana Bhakti Foundation in Tugu Selatan subdistrict, Cisarua, Bogor, West Java.

Apart from supplying Ranch Market and six groups of exclusive consumers in the capital, the foundation also exports its produce to Singapore.

Daryanto, production manager of the foundation, said his six- hectare vegetable farm in Cisarua produced on average 1.5 tons per week.

He said that his farm could not immediately fulfill the demand of the organic vegetables as they only cultivated them based on order. "If there is an order, we will plant new vegetables," he added.

Due to health concerns, organic farming has now been developed in many Western countries such as the U.S., Australia, Japan, Cyprus, Denmark, British, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Scotland, and Spain.

Friends of the Earth, an environmental organization in Europe said that many studies had shown foods contaminated with chemical substances, such as chemical fertilizer and pesticides, had caused various health problems like allergies, infertility, cancer and brain damage.

Sinta Budi Halim, one of the organic food consumers in Tebet, South Jakarta said that she liked organic produce, But that she can only get organic vegetables as organic fruits are not available.

According to Sinta, her family is much healthier after they began eating organic vegetables. "Yes, the organic foods make us healthier. My children rarely get sick," she added.

Sinta is one of the 20 families in Tebet as well as five other exclusive consumers, who regularly receive supplies from the Bina Sarana Bhakti Foundation every Tuesday and Thursday.