"Digitisation will make connectivity between buyers and sellers more effective and efficient and would enhance the acceleration of ornamental plants (industry) development. Hence, we need to develop this ecosystem," the minister's expert staff for macroeconomics Rulli Nuryanto stated, as per the statement on Saturday.
The digitisation of the agriculture industry, including the ornamental and fruit plant sector, would attract more youths to the work in the sector and could create potentials to increase the industry's value, he said.
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The expert staff also pushed farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs to consolidate and synergise themselves through co-operatives to increase their business scale and reach new markets and capital access.
"Co-operatives could be the aggregator, consolidator, and offtaker to process the (industry) harvest. Moreover, in the marketing aspect, co-operatives could also help sell agricultural products to prevent the product price from being tricked by speculators," Nuryanto expounded.
Quoting umkmindonesia.id data, he said the value of Indonesia's fruit exports in 2020 only reached US$934 thousand, and Indonesia was still in the 32nd place among fruit-exporting countries.
He added that according to the Agriculture Ministry, fruits produced in Indonesia, such as banana, avocado, and tangerine, could be the mainstay of Indonesia's fruit exports attracting buyers from neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and the East Asia region.
"Therefore, I encourage ornamental and fruit plant entrepreneurs to develop this sector to ensure (this sector) can increase its value in the future," he remarked.
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Translator: Sinta Ambarwati, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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