Viral Tomatoes Are Cheap And Discarded, The Sultan Needs A Horticultural Downstream Approach

25 January 2023 oleh admin

dpd.go.id - Deputy chairman of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) RI Sultan B Najamudin regretted the existence of a viral video showing the frustration of some tomato farmers due to the low price of their crops by buyers.

However, the former chairman of HIPMI Bengkulu considered the farmer's attitude to be a form of protest against the state's negligence in the trade system for horticultural commodities in the region. This means that there is still a void in the supply chain for horticultural products that is directly integrated.

"This incident is certainly very ironic when you see the high level of consumption of food additives originating from horticultural products. Even though our people are very fond of chili sauce and tomato sauce as well as other processed tomato products," said the Sultan in his official statement on Wednesday (25/01).

According to him, the existence of a small-scale processing industry in the middle of the horticulture industry is absolutely necessary. This is needed considering the character of horticultural products which are easily damaged and often over supply occurs.

"The government is expected to be able to see the potential for horticultural production in the region by empowering local communities as actors in the agricultural product processing industry. This tomato case is an example of how our horticultural development system is still far from industry standards that are integrated into the downstream agricultural sector," he stressed.

We appreciate the paradigm of potential commodity development with the downstream approach so far. But the downstream government paradigm should not only be realized in certain sectors.

"Strategic sectors that produce food and horticulture products also require a touch of adequate processing technology. So that farmers' crops can be processed directly in agricultural areas before being marketed with optimal added value to cities," he concluded.

For information, a number of farmers in Pekon (Village) Hanakau, Sukau District, West Lampung Regency, threw hundreds of kilograms of harvested tomatoes into a ravine. This was recorded in a video that went viral on social media. In the video, two farmers throw a crate of tomatoes into a ravine. Apart from that, a number of crates filled with ripe tomatoes were also seen in the pickup truck. "Cheap tomatoes don't sell well, the boxes are more expensive than the tomatoes," said one of the farmers in the video.

One of the tomato farmers, Pudin, said that the farmers are annoyed because currently the price of tomatoes has dropped, from only around Rp. 600 to Rp. 800 per kilogram. (*)