Paringin, South Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The Food Security, Agriculture and Fisheries Office (DKP3) of Balangan District, South Kalimantan Province, keeps trying to push up porang (elephant foot yam) price.
“Through various breakthrough, we are trying to push up again price of porang,” said acting Head of DKP3 Rizkianor Fauzi in Balangan, Sunday.
The office sugested farmers to better sell porang chips rather than in tuber (umbi), because price difference is very larga.
Currently, Rizki said, porang price in the form of wet tubers is around Rp2,700 - Rp3,500 per kg, whereas previously it was Rp10,000.
"As we know, the price for wet porang and chips are very different, porang chips is about Rp12,000 per kg," he said.
Previously, the Agriculture Office of Balangan provided training to make porang chip to farmers to increase the price and make it easy for farmers to market them.
The local government also provided assistance of porang chips processing machines to every Agricultural Extension Center (BPP) in Balangan.
Related news: 10 tons porang chips from Balangan go to Japan
According to Rizki, the excessive use of chemical fertilizers can also affect the quality of porang which results in decrease in selling prices.
Rizki hopes that porang farmers to improve the quality of porang, because it has a big impact on the purchasing power of the product.
"Rubber and porang fluctuate in price which is determined by world price, the better the quality the better the price," he said.
In April 2021, ten tons of porang chips from Balangan District, left for Japan as part of a total of 100 tons of demand that must be fulfilled in five months.
Head of the Banjarmasin Agricultural Quarantine Agency Drh Nur Hartanto said China and Japan are wide open to become porang export market. Not only for consuming food, it is also used for industrial raw material, such as glue, flour, cosmetics, and others.
Related news: Ministry encourages South Kalimantan porang to fulfill export
