Tapin seeks to open 450 hectares of hiyung bird's eye chili fields

Rantau, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Regent of Tapin, South Kalimantan, HM Arifin Arpan said he seeks to open 450 hectares of productive land for hiyung bird's eye chili.

"We also want to secure the potential land not to be converted, so that the existing land is really used for the development of hiyung bird's eye chili," he said in Rantau on Thursday.

In Hiyung village alone, there are now 116 hectares of productive land owned by 11 farmer groups, which involve 300 households.

If added with 140 hectares of land owned by independent farmers, there are a total of 329 households or 99 percent of Hiyung villagers to rely on chili plants as their economic foundation.

Head of Karya Baru Farmer Group Junaidi said the Tapin Regent's discourse was welcomed by the community if realized, because the total potential land to be opened is around 700 hectares.

"Obviously, this is encouraging news," he said.

Data from the Tapin Agriculture Office shows that until 2023 the area of land opened by the local government has reached 222 hectares.

The land is spread in the Hiyung Village (150 hectares), in a number of villages in Candi Laras Selatan Subdistrict (70 hectares) and Bakarangan Subdistrict (2 hectares).

The planting media in all of these areas have georaphic lebak or swamp lands similar to Hiyung Village land.

In 2021 productivity figure reached 69.04 quintals of bird's eye chili per hectare and in 2022 became 90 quintals/hectare.

Junaidi said, Hiyung bird's eye chili is superior to other types of chili, thus it selling value is higher in the market with a price difference of IDR 5,000 to 10,000/kg.

The highest price of hiyung bird's eye chili is IDR120,000/kg, which fluctuates greatly due to market conditions.

The expansion of the hiyung bird's eye chili planting media is considered profitable and will not detrimental. Because, this chili has many fans so there is a lot of demand both from within and outside the region.