Despite the demand for sweet potato from overseas buyers, Indonesian farmers find it hard to meet export standards

Despite being a leading exporter of sweet potato in the world, Indonesia is still having difficulty in accommodating the demand of sweet potato from overseas buyers, especially to developed countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, when it comes to the standard of product. One of the contributing factors for the issue lies with the way that sweet potato is cultivated in Indonesia, which is not in accordance with the standard of those countries and the fact that most sweet potato suppliers in Indonesia do not have certifications. Currently, out of around 50 MT of sweet potato demand on a monthly basis from the aforementioned countries, only 10% of the demanded volume can be supplied. This is an issue that is currently being addressed by the Ministry of Agriculture of Indonesia, to educate the farmers on limiting the amount of pesticide used, how to cultivate their sweet potato crops better and with the accepted standard by the majority of the importing countries.