Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has called for an increase in exports of superior commodities from West Papua, specifically nutmeg. The development of superior commodities of pepper, cloves, and nutmeg is part of the National Priority Project in the 2020-2024 RPJMN, especially in West Papua Province.
It is known that the West Papua regional government is working with the British Embassy in Jakarta and the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Indonesia in collaborating through The Green Economic Growth (GEG) for Papua project. This programme has been running since 2017.
During a visit to the Tomandin Nutmeg Processing Production House Fakfak, West Papua, the Vice President expressed high appreciation for the modern processing of nutmeg, which has enabled the production of quality products. In addition, the Tomandin nutmeg production house under Papua Global Spice is working with the British Embassy in procuring drying equipment so as to accelerate the nutmeg production process and increase export potential.
“Hopefully, this model can be further developed, so that it can be managed in a good way, so hopefully there will be some kind of management like this, so that our exports will be large,” the Vice President said in his statement, quoted on Friday (14/7/2023).
“In this place, nutmeg processing has been carried out in a more modern manner and produces better quality,” he added.
The Vice President also took the opportunity to explain that all the parts of the nutmeg plant can be utilised.
“It turns out that nutmeg is not wasted. I saw that the flower, the seed, and the shell of the nutmeg, are also exported,” the Vice President said.
“The skin is used for perfume, for sweets, so nothing is wasted,” the Vice President added.
Furthermore, because the potential is evidently quite high, the Vice President said it is possible to increase the production of nutmeg to increase exports.
“I will discuss with related parties how to develop the processing of nutmeg in Fakfak so that exports will be even greater,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, on the same occasion, Fakfak Regent Untung Tamsil said that the Fakfak Regency Government together with stakeholders are working to expand the land used for nutmeg planting in an effort to increase annual production.
“We produce 18,000 tonnes per year, from 16,000 hectares. In the meantime, we have a program for replanting. So, the idle, empty lands we are pushing to utilise,” said Untung.
For information, nutmeg has an economic value that lies in its seeds which can be processed into nutmeg oil. The flesh of the nutmeg fruit is also very important because it has high economic value and can be processed into derivative raw materials, such as making sweets, syrups, and jams.
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