Paringin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Ten tons of porang chips from Balangan District, South Kalimantan, today (April 12, 2021) left for Japan as part of a total of 100 tons of demand that must be fulfilled in five months.
Representative of the Agricultural Quarantine Agency Imam Djajadi in Banjarmasin on Monday said this is as a form of commitment of stakeholders in agriculture development in South Kalimantan to increase agricultural export.
"Apart from being very encouraging news, we hope this achievement to be a strong impetus for the effort to restore the economy of the people of South Kalimantan, especially Balangan porang farmers, as well as nationally," he said.
Imam said one of the biggest contributors to South Kalimantan export is processed products of palm oil. However, now it has opened a variety of new export commodities in the form of porang ((elephant foot yam) chips.
"In the future, we will continue to maintain the positive momentum of this initial export and increase it, so that agriculture in South Kalimantan can continue to take part in economic development, especially during the ongoing pandemic," said Imam.
The 10 tons of porang chips with a value of IDR560 million are exported to Japan by PT Buana Alam Lestari dispatched through Trisakti Port of Banjarmasin using KM Tanto Langgeng V.220 to go to the Ishigaki Port of Japan.
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Acting Governor Safrizal ZA, who represented by acting Regional Secretary Roy Rizali Anwar said that the release of the first export of porang chips proved strong support for farmers and business actors in South Kalimantan, especially Balangan District.
”Balangan becomes the first district in South Kalimantan to export porang to Japan. This becomes a high value for us to cultivate porang. Hopefully in the future porang can be planted evenly in all districts in South Kalimantan,” said Safrizal.
Meanwhile, Balangan Regent Abdul Hadi explained that the 10 porang chips were obtained from 80 tons of wet tubers. Of eight sub-districts in Balangan, Juai and Lampihong produced the most porang.
"I represent Balangan government will continue to encourage porang cultivation to become the superior agricultural product from Balangan. Market demand is still far from being fulfilled, namely only about 2 percent in domestic, and 0.6 percent abroad, so the opportunity is still very large," he said.
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