The province at the northern tip of Sulawesi, according to him, has the potential to develop the agricultural sector because it has a strategic geographical location. In addition, he continued, North Sulawesi is rich in natural resources and blessed with fertile land, the majority of the people are farming and gardening, the domestic and export markets are very large and many agricultural commodities have the potential to become export products. North Sulawesi province has seven leading commodities in the future. The leading export commodities are porang, stevia, chrysanthemum, abaka fiber, vanilla, coconut water, and coconut fiber. "There are a number of recent global market export challenges, starting from the increasing requirements for products to be free of OPT (Plant Pest Organisms), food safety requirements, product health traceability requirements, and product quality requirements," said Head of Manado Class I Agricultural Quarantine Center Donni Muksydayan Saragih. , Saturday (2/7/2022).
This variety of export commodities is also supported by the facilities of Sam Ratulangi Airport, Bitung Port, there are direct exports to Japan and Singapore. "Another important potential is the support of regional heads and the synergy of all relevant stakeholders is very strong," he explained. Even so, he said, there are also challenges that must be faced for the development of the agricultural sector in North Sulawesi at this time. "Most of North Sulawesi's agriculture is smallholder and traditional agriculture, farmers' access to markets is still lacking and there is no map of agricultural data covering area, production and trade," he said. In 2021, the total value of North Sulawesi's agricultural exports will reach Rp. 5.8 trillion, an increase of 109 percent compared to the previous year of Rp. 2.8 trillion. In total there are 85 varieties of commodities exported to 46 destination countries, of which there are 39 new types of commodities.
Source: https://sulut.inews.id/amp/berita/sulawesi-utara-mliki-7-komoditas-ekspor-unggulan-masa-depan
