Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia is stepping up strategic cooperation programmes to bring agricultural, fishery and horticultural commodities from its transmigration areas to international markets, aiming to increase product value, promote downstream processing and drive local economic growth.
Deputy Transmigration Minister Viva Yoga Mauladi said that transmigration areas produce a range of export-ready commodities, including rice, corn, horticultural products and fisheries with export potential.
He said the regions have significant untapped potential, but greater access to international markets is essential to expand exports and strengthen the global competitiveness of their products.
The Ministry of Transmigration is strengthening partnerships among local authorities, businesses and buyers to support downstream processing, industrialisation and community empowerment in transmigration areas, he added.
Mauladi stressed that alongside expanding export markets, Indonesia is focusing on developing processing industries and increasing the added value of agricultural products from transmigration areas rather than exporting raw materials. The strategy is expected to improve local incomes and support sustainable economic development.
He said blue swimming crab is among the commodities being promoted for export and is already shipped to the US through a private-sector offtaker, opening opportunities for other fishery products to enter overseas markets.
The ministry has also overseen the export of hundreds of tonnes of durians from a transmigration area in Central Sulawesi province to China, highlighting the potential of these communities to integrate into global agricultural supply chains.
Indonesia has implemented its transmigration programme for decades to relocate people from densely populated islands to less populated areas with greater land resources, aiming to promote regional development and reduce disparities. The government expects expanding exports from these areas to provide a further boost to rural economic growth and enhance the international competitiveness of Indonesian farm products./.
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