President Jokowi Tells Regional Leaders to Explore Export Potential for Agricultural Commodities

President Jokowi releases “Merdeka Ekspor” (Freedom to Export) for agriculture sector (14/08/2021). (Photo by: Presidential Secretariat’s Press, Media, and Information Bureau/Muchlis Jr)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo Saturday (14/08) urged regional leaders, including governors, regents, and mayors to explore potential export of Indonesia’s agricultural commodities.

In order to support the export, the President also expressed hopes that farmers can be facilitated to get access to capital, tech innovations, and assistance or mentoring program.

“I have discussed a lot of things with directors of banks so that our agriculture sector can get special attention considering its opportunity. As Minister of Agriculture said earlier, porang plant (elephant foot yam) can enter the large market,” President Jokowi said.

On that occasion, the Head of State also reminded all regional leaders to be focused on product downstreaming, not just on raw products exports.

In the meantime, in order to boost sales of agricultural commodities, the President also ordered that farmers and agricultural businesses get connected to the national and global supply chains so they can easily export their products.

The President also called for measures to develop export-oriented centers for Indonesia’s agricultural commodities.

“To date, there are only 293 regencies / municipalities of 514 regencies / municipalities throughout Indonesia that have export-leading centers for agricultural commodities such as palm oil, rubber, coffee, and other commodities. There are still many agricultural commodities that have the potential to be exported,” President Jokowi said.

For the record, other agricultural commodities that have the potential to export include swallow’s nest, porang plant (elephant foot yam), essential oils, jasmine flowers, ornamental plants, edamame beans, and other horticultural products.

“If we pay more attention to those products (mentioned above), it will be a good opportunity for us to export them. In addition to that, there are also livestock products that are also potential to enter the market,” the President added.

The Head of State underscored that mastery of technology is essential to improve productivity of Indonesia’s agriculture sector so that the products can have more added values and be more competitive. (TGH/UN) (AP/EP)