The director general of horticulture of the ministry of agriculture, Hasanuddin Ibrahim, said here on Thursday the seeds exported come from 13 commodities namely "kangkung" (water spinach), "pare" (bitter melon), cucumber, chili, legume and squash.
"The others are pumpkin, gourd, eggplant, beet, sweet corn, spinach and tomato," he said in a workshop on horticulture.
In terms of volume he said exports of kangkung seed was the biggest reaching 4.13 million kilograms followed by eggplant seeds reaching 92,946 kilogram, cucumber seeds 67.016 kilograms and bitter melon 65,393 kilograms.
Exports of sweet corn seeds reached 31,600 kilograms, legume seeds 16,361 kilograms and pumpkin seeds 15,813 kilograms. Exports of the other seeds are still below 10 kilograms, he said.
Regarding imports of vegetable seeds Hasanuddin said in 2010 they rose in value to US%4.76 million from US$2.37 million in 2009.
The biggest seed imported is sweet corn seed totalling 282,321 kilograms worth US$2.45 million, followed by tomato seed 7,426 kilograms worth US$1.08 million.
Imports are also done on some seeds whose vegetables will not be efficient if produced at home such as cabbage, broccoli, couliflower and white mustard greens reaching US$3.50 million in 2010 rising from US$2.05 million in 2009.
Hasanuddin said exports of ornamental plant seeds in 2010 dropped in 2010 from US$65,017 million in 2009.
Imports of ornamental plant seeds meanwhile reached US$743,157 in 2010 which was higher than in 2009.
In 2009 imports of ornamental plant seeds were also higher than exports reaching US$775,371 dominated by lilies, orchids, chrysanthemum and roses.(*)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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