Barito Kuala, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Farmers from Kampung Jeruk (Orange Village), Barito Kuala Regency, South Kalimantan, send 1,500 tons of oranges per month to several districts and cities in Java.
“The government has provided 2.5 hectares of land per family in Kampung Jeruk, Barito Kuala. We are able to send 50 tons of orange per day,” said the Kampung Jeruk farmers Jani Mukthar, Wednesday.
Kampung Jeruk, he said, covers four villages, Karang Buah and Karang Dukuh (in Belawang Sub-district), and Karang Indah and Karang Bunga (Mandastana Sub-district).
“Despite the long dry season for the last four month, in fact we can harvest every day. We made water ditches between orange trees, so that water needs are always fulfilled for soil fertility,” he said.
To anticipate decrease in crop yields, farmers routinely provide fertilizer based on weather condition, at least three times in 12 months.
In these four villages, Jani and two other farmers are not only being farmers, they also doing business by accomodating sales from farmers.
Jani and each of his partners routinely send two large trucks of oranges every day with a minimum weight of eight tons each and totally the amount reaches a minimum of 48 tons per day.
Agricultural land covering an area of about 300 hectares is the center of orange groves in Barito Kuala. Although we can still find oranges in other villages, but the majority of orange farmers are in Kampung Jeruk.
There are two prices of oranges, ripe and semi-ripe. Ripe oranges from farmers Rp8,000-Rp9.000 per kg, sold to Java Rp12,000 per kg. Half-ripe oranges are around Rp7,000-Rp8,000, sold to Java about Rp11,000 per kg.
Currently, said Jani, local Siam Banjar orange from SouthKalimantan are able to compete with the quality of orange from Medan, Bali, and Pontianak. Farmers are not worried with their sales, especially since the condition of their gardens is quite good, even though it is the dry season.
“Every day there are always orders from Java, we always harvest oranges. Although theire is a descrease in crop yields during the dry season, but it is not too significant,” said Jani.
