Indonesian Forest Products Can Be Export Commodities

The food crisis that hit the world threatens all countries, including Indonesia. Seeing this, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) presents a regenerative forest business (forestry multi-business). The goal is to develop multi-business agroforestry, in the form of compensation for environmental services and non-timber forest products.

Reported by Liputan6.com, Kadin Regenerative Forest Business Sub Hub (Kadin-RFBSH) held a discussion forum with entrepreneurs in the forestry sector. This forum came with the hope of being able to initiate cooperation between entrepreneurs in the upstream sector with those in the downstream sector.

“This event is to bring together the upstream sector that owns land and the market, for example, those who need coffee, how to use coffee together,” said Deputy Chairman of Kadin RFBSH Silverius Oscar Unggul in a discussion forum at the JW Marriott Hotel, Kuningan, South Jakarta (25/10/2022).

Silverius Oscar added that this activity aims to facilitate the process of transforming the forestry business from previously wood-based to multi-business, while still paying attention to sustainability factors. This is in response to the Job Creation Law Number 11 of 2020 and Government Regulation Number 23 of 2021. These laws provide a legal basis and opportunities for forestry business actors to increase the use of the area through Multi Forestry Enterprises.

“Almost all of these multi-businesses hold forest use rights permits, they should be given multi-businesses, but again, this is still new, so only a few have tried it,” he explained.

This discussion forum activity also discusses a number of business trends and opportunities. Apart from wood, there are still many forest resources that produce various types of goods and services, including food. Among them are coffee, vanilla, palm sugar and chocolate commodities.

“So we will often hold discussions as well as socialize various forest products whose market is actually very wide. Many countries in America and Europe need coffee and cocoa beans, while Indonesia is the largest producer of forest products. But we have not exported much because the production is still small, even though the potential is very large,” said Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Livestock Partnership Permanent Commission Insan Syafaat.

Naturally, forests produce fruits, vegetables, tubers, and seeds as a source of plant food, and wild animals as a source of animal food. Entering the 1990s, cultivation for food crops was still limited to seasonal crops. However, since the 2000s, cultivation for food crops have become increasingly diverse. Starting from food-producing plants in the form of trees, shrubs, palms, to seasonal crops.