Due to increasing demand from overseas, Indonesia to increase Porang sweet potato production by 30%

Local farmers in West Java have been trying to produce a variety of sweet potato called Porang sweet potato. Despite not having as high of demand as taro and other varieties, the demand for the Porang variety from the overseas buyers has shown a promising growth with the recorded demand volume of 250 MT and 280 MT in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Some of the foreign countries that have become frequent importers of Porang sweet potato are China, Vietnam, and Australia. Unlike the other varieties, Porang is more tolerable to bad weather and generally requires less water in its cultivation process, thus making the selling price cheaper compared to other varieties. These farmers targeted a 30% increase in the production output this year, with half of it being allocated for export.