Organic veggies slow to gain popularity

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.