Farmers in Kaubun district, East Kutai (Kutim) have succeeded in transforming the Greek kepok banana into an export product with a turnover of several billion rupees.

VERY VERY – The hard work of the farmers helped by the Taruna Bina Mandiri (TBM) cooperative cannot be underestimated.

Considering that the turnover generated reached tens of billions of rupees, from January to September last year. The cooperative exported 865 tons of kepok bananas and generated a turnover of up to 12.512 billion rupees. Most of the shipments took place in August and September, reaching 160 tons to Canada with a transaction value of Rs 3.840 billion.

All are banana plantations covering an area of ​​1,700 hectares which are managed by the farmers’ group. Even every month, distributed 96.1 tons to five countries. Namely, Canada, Malaysia, Pakistan, Greece and Taiwan.

As support, the Kutim Regency Government will prepare the land and develop the potential for horticultural production. In particular, bananas are for export, preparing 1,250 hectares of land in four sub-districts. Namely, Kaubun, Kaliorang, Sangkulirang and Karangan. The horticultural activity is considered very promising in addition to the plantation sector.

“From several comparative studies of commercial results between horticulture and plantations, a ratio of 1 to 9. is obtained. This means that the results obtained from 1 hectare of new horticultural crops are the same as 9 hectares of plantation land. So the results are indeed very promising or promising,” said Kutim Regent Ardiansyah. Sulaiman accompanying the Director of Fruits and Floriculture of the Ministry of Agriculture, Liferdi Lukman, at the launch of the export of kepok grecek bananas in the village of Kadungan Jaya to Singapore some time ago.

In addition, to support food security, the district government will also develop the concept of food domain, which is done in an integrated way. Includes agriculture, plantations and livestock located on a large area of ​​land. Benefits from the existence of the program food domain not only directly, but also indirect benefits.

“The direct benefits come in the form of increased production and employment for local communities and farmers,” he explained.

He did not deny that farmer groups have complained about the electricity supply, construction and improvement of farm roads and other support facilities which they believe need improvement. He admitted that with the availability of special electricity in Kadungan Jaya village, PLN aims to install it by 2023.

“Now the new network has reached the village of Sempayau. Only a few more kilometers from Kadungan Jaya. Meanwhile, the road for agriculture, in addition to funds from the Ministry of Agriculture, can also receive funds from the provincial or central government. The mechanism and the scheme will be studied so that it can be used optimally,” he said.

As for the success of the farmers’ group in exporting Greek kepok bananas to Singapore, Ardiansyah gave high appreciation. He promised to continue to support the development and production of its derivatives.

“On behalf of the East Kutai Regency community and government, I would like to express my highest appreciation and gratitude to all the farmers who have successfully exported Greek kepok bananas to foreign countries,” he said. he explains. (dq/far/k15)