Linking small banana producers in lumajang district to better markets

Abstract

Successful technological and institutional innovations under East Java Prima Tani program implementation in Pasrujambe District of Lumajang have resulted in better production of local specific banana in terms of quality and quantity. The economic analysis showed that there was an improvement in income generated from these production changes. We realized that building up farmers' production capabilities alone is no longer sufficient to sustain their income growth; there should be a support activity to link them to the market. This paper describes our experience under Prima Tani programs in linking small local specific banana (golden kirana) producers to PT Sewu Segar Nusantara, a private company specializing in various high value banana marketing in Java. In this activity, Prima Tani is the external catalyst which also provided some technological assistance (production aspects) in order to meet the company's product requirements and building infrastructure necessary to the farmers. As an illustration, under this new marketing pattern, the producers' income from banana has increased by 67.65%. Within the last 15 months, the banana producers in Prima Tani region have supplied 3,351 kg (Rp 7,037,600) of grade A banana and 316 kg (Rp 269,166) of grade B per month through this new marketing system. So far, however, only about 23% of banana produced from the region are sold in this pattern, while the rest are still sold traditionally. Therefore, some effort has to be made including intensive socialization of the marketing pattern to other farmers as well as making new marketing links with other private companies.