Despite producing a significant amount of fruit locally and importing rising amounts of fresh produce, Indonesian consumers are lagging behind in fresh fruit consumption, with an intake per capita of 32.67kg a year.
Indonesia’s intake is much lower than the 65kg per person recommended by the US Food and Drug administration (USFDA), according to Winny Dian Wibawa, the Indonesian Agriculture Ministry’s director for horticulture.
“If Indonesians increased their intake, we’d have a healthier populace and wealthier farmers,” she told the Jakarta Globe.
Ms Wibawa believes the problem lies in the country’s fixation on rice, which Indonesian consumers believe can fulfil all of their nutritional needs.
People ideally need to be having ten servings of fruit per day, said Samuel Oetoro, a clinical nutritionist at Siloam Hospital.
“Fruit is a natural source of vitamins, minerals and fibre,” said Mr Oetoro, “which aid the digestion and help lower the risk of degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and several types of cancer.”
Mr Oetoro said encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables was key for nutritionists.
“Indonesia has such a rich variety of fruits that are healthy and cheap, such as local variants of bananas, papayas, guavas, oranges, watermelons and soursops” he said. “There’s no point blowing the bank on importer blueberries.”
The domestic fruit industry is starting to pay attention to Good Agricultural Practices as well, said Ms Wibawa.
Around 4700 orchards across the country are in the process of adopting the GlobalGAP standard, she said, which would hopefully encourage Indonesians to eat more fruits and vegetables.
