Organic vegetables on your doorstep

Prodita Sabarini ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 08/03/2008 10:13 AM  |  On the Town

It wouldn't hurt to scrap vegetables from your groceries list the next time you head to the store. It might even be good for your health and the environment.

Eating vegetables and fruit everyday should be a good way to stay healthy. However, organic food producer Nick Djatnika warns that the juicy spotless fruit that you may be eating might be filled with hazardous chemicals.

Conventional farming in Indonesia, as a result of the Soeharto-era Green Revolution, uses chemical fertilizers and pesticides on a massive scale, harming the soil and making farmers dependent on chemicals.

"One should move away from preferring a pest free watermelon," Kandaga Organic manager Nick said. "The ones without bugs actually show that they might be dangerous to eat as even the bugs won't touch them," he said.

What should one do then?

Start buying organic produce from stores that sell them or, to be more practical, order them to your doorstep.

Organic farming is picking up in cities in Indonesia and distributors of the produce are willing to come all the way to their consumers' houses.

Jakartans can order fresh vegetables, including fresh salad greens, big red-ripe tomatoes and dark purple eggplants from distributors including Kandaga Organic, The Learning Farm and Organic Food Indonesia. The companies all have home delivery services following their harvests.

"Our produce is not big enough for us to supply to stores daily, that's why we choose to do home deliveries first," Nick said. However, he acknowledged Kandaga, which guides organic farmers in Sukabumi, West Java, has yet to certify its products. "We use 100 percent organic farming techniques," he said.

Jiway Tung, project manager of The Learning Farm said they employed a home delivery service to build a loyal customer base to support the sustainability of their training program.

The Learning Farm, which was set up three years ago by U.S.-based nongovernmental organization World Education and is now run by the Karang Widya Foundation, trains street children and vulnerable youth in various skills, including organic farming.

"By marketing through home delivery services we can predict how much we need to produce and how much profit we will earn," Jiway said. The profits are used to help fund the training program.

These companies and organizations are helping farmers engage in sustainable farming and the production of healthy foods. By not using pesticides and chemical fertilizers they are able to maintain a healthy ecosystem.

"It is difficult to convince farmers to switch to organic farming because the yield results are smaller and the price of the products are higher, which fill farmers with doubts on being able to sell them," Nick said.

According to the Switzerland-based Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, only about one thousandth of Indonesia's farmland is officially organic.

However, demand for organic food is increasing as the healthy living trend is picking up in households in Jakarta.

Nick said that when Kandaga started in 2006, a lot of their customers were expatriates.

"The percentage of local customers is increasing," he said. Kandaga has around 30 customers per week in Jakarta. The Learning Farm delivers three times per week with around 30 customers per delivery.

Organic Food Indonesia focuses more on organic rice than vegetables. The company started deliveries in April 2008, owner Darmawan Wijaya said.

"The organic food trend is booming. That's why we want to be part of it as well," Darmawan said. Organic food Indonesia buys its rice from 10 farmers in Bandung, Sukabumi and Cianjur, all in West Java, which they helped shift from chemical to organic farming.

The demand for organic produce is growing throughout Asia according to a 2006 report by market analyst Organic Monitor. The group estimates the market is expanding by 30 to 40 percent annually in places including Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Globally, sales of organic food and drink have increased 43 percent from US$23 billion, according to The World of Organic Agriculture 2007 report.

Kandaga Organic
Ph. 085695724767

The Learning Farm
Ph. 0811 110 1406
Thelearningfarm@gmail.com

Organic Food Indonesia
Ph. 081510791761

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