PANGALENGAN – The Ministry of Agriculture is currently focusing on improving the development and marketing of agricultural products.
Acting Minister of Agriculture Arief Prasetyo Adi through a press statement previously expressed his support for the MSMEs in the agricultural sector.
“This national food ecosystem is not only directed at meeting national food needs, but is encouraged to meet the food needs of Southeast Asia, or even the world, with an export scheme after the government’s food reserves are sufficient,” said Arief.
“So there is a need to improve quality from cultivation to post-harvest. We must participate in growing MSMEs, especially the horticulture sector,” he added.
As one of the horticultural commodities with high economic value, chili is now the main focus in efforts to support MSMEs in the horticultural sector.
The Directorate General of Horticulture through the Directorate of Processing and Marketing of Horticultural Products has provided assistance with post-harvest facilities and infrastructure as well as processing to increase the added value and competitiveness of chili products.
Bernard Tani, a group of MSMEs in Pangalengan District, Bandung Regency, West Java, is one of the beneficiaries of this initiative.
With a production capacity of 24–30 tons per month for various types of chilies and 40 tons for other vegetables such as tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, and ginger, Bernard Tani has succeeded in marketing his products to premium and retail levels.
“We supply our products to Lotte and Aeon. Bernard Tani is the main vendor to fulfill the chili needs of Lotte Mart throughout Jabodetabek, both for premium and wholesale. We also supply our chilies to Aeon,” explained Bernard Tani Group Chair Pipit Candra.
Pipit emphasizes the importance of product quality, because high quality is the key to success in marketing their products.
Not only producing fresh products, Bernard Tani also processes off-grade or grade C products into processed chilies.
Off-grade products are products that do not meet market criteria, but can still be consumed.
This allows them to reduce waste and increase the added value of products.
Assistance with post-harvest facilities and infrastructure, such as post-harvest wards, plays an important role in improving the quality of harvests and meeting GHP (Good Handling Product) standards.
Crops can be processed and packaged more efficiently, thereby reducing product waste.
During the visit to the Bernard Tani group, the PROHORTI application was also socialized.
The application provides information regarding data on the Horticulture MSME groups, production, processing, marketing and distribution permits.
It is hoped that the application can help the Horticulture MSME groups and the government in formulating better policies.
“With assistance with post-harvest and processing facilities and infrastructure, it is hoped that the group can increase both their class and income,” said the Director General of Horticulture, Prihasto Setyanto.
“Many of our horticultural products are as good as foreign products in terms of taste and quality, so with this assistance it is hoped that we can help the Horticultural MSME groups compete with foreign products,” he added.
Director of Processing and Marketing of Horticultural Products, Bambang Sugiharto, added that this assistance could help the Horticultural MSME group “move up in class”.
“With this assistance, the Horticulture MSME group can ‘upgrade’ from just MSMEs to become IKMs by adding branding to each product through attractive packaging and in accordance with the conditions of the distribution permit,” he said.
This is an important step in supporting horticultural MSMEs to compete in an increasingly competitive market.
