Improved marketing of mandarins in East Nusa Tenggara in Indonesia and northern Queensland

• Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Australia
• Universitas Nusa Cendana, Indonesia

Regional horticultural farmers in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and northern Queensland operate on a small scale and lack a systematic marketing strategy for their products, which are often of poor and inconsistent quality. The Indonesian farmers have additional problems associated with poor infrastructure and lack of investment.

The initial concept of the project was to look at the horticultural industry in the eastern islands with an agenda for poverty relief for subsistence farmers. Later through an in-country feasibility study, the potential benefit of concentrating on the mandarin industry was identified. The rationale is based on the 1998 measures of the Indonesian Agricultural Ministry to support the development of the mandarin in the NTT Province. There are also non-government organisations (NGOs) from the United States and Japan assisting the development of the industry in NTT.

To match the Indonesian component of the project the mandarin industry in the Atherton Tablelands in north Queensland was considered appropriate. The obvious reason is its similarity to land form and climate conditions to the dry tropics of NTT, but other similarities included: family farms instead of corporations; farmers being price takers rather than planners, and being paid an agreed price in cash by traders; farmers working with the next channel member along the supply chain only, having little knowledge about where their products go; both industries being regarded as having a comparative advantage (variety and agronomic conditions in NTT, and timing of supply in the Tablelands); both industries being assisted and promoted by their governments.

The project initially focused on smallholder mandarin farmers in NTT and northern Queensland, but findings of the project may also be applicable to East Timor.

The aim was to assist farmers in NTT and Atherton Tableland Queensland to improve quantity and quality of fruit production, define specific market requirements and pilot test improved marketing strategies for mandarins.

The project teams started by defining existing horticultural marketing situations through interviewing stakeholders in the industry. Early in the project in 2000, training in market research skills was conducted and applied.

As a result of the approval of supplementary research in January 2001 certain aspects of cultural skills and disease control were addressed in selected villages in NTT. The technical side of the project was implemented, with some guidance from La Trobe University, by a team from the University of Mataram, who joined the project in 2002.

The Australian team was unable to travel to Indonesia in 2001 and 2002 for security reasons. Instead Indonesian researchers, farmers and an extension officer came to Australia in April 2002 to undergo training in cultural skills, quality assurance and marketing, and to engage in participatory planning for implementation in July 2002. The project officer, who is an Indonesian national, was also able to stay in NTT for one month in 2002 to coordinate and evaluate the implementation workshop in July and November. Areas of implementation included cultural skills, pest and disease control and workshops on knowledge of agribusiness and marketing concepts.

In Australia, on the Atherton Tableland, the product included in the proposal was mandarin. With the advice from QDPI and Tableland Marketing, it was determined that Tableland growers, in collaboration with Mareeba Export Co-operative (which has a processing plant for juices) needed to assess the feasibility of selling tropical and subtropical juices to a quality driven market, such as Japan. Hence, this segment of the project shifted its focus to the marketing potential and strategies of tropical and subtropical juices from the Tableland region.

In Indonesia supply chain issues in production, marketing, transport, micro finance and market information were analysed. The focus group, taste panel and market intercept surveys indicated that Keprok Soe, the major variety of mandarin in NTT, has certain marketing advantages compared to those from other islands of Indonesia. Training materials were translated into Bahasa as teaching references for UNC staff.

The initial assessment was that production could rebound in the coming seasons starting from 2003 if drought problems did not occur again.There was evidence that key farmers involved in the project had started to think of themselves as marketers and adopted improved cultural skills in a short period of time.

The results of this project were disseminated through publications, radio broadcasts and linkages with other international and Indonesian projects. Future research for the mandarin industry in NTT may focus on further strengthening of production issues to more villages, postharvest handling, farm-level processing of reject mandarins which account for about 25% of total production in the area, and collaborative marketing through existing farm groups.