Indonesian deal not small spuds

A WESTERN Australian potato farm has become a training ground for Indonesian agricultural officials and farmers keen to improve their incomes and yields.

Nestled on 500 hectares in Nannup, in WA’s South West, Lake Jasper Certified Seed Potato Company is selling around 1,000 tonnes a year of seed potatoes to Indonesia. As part of the deal, Lake Jasper managers Tom and Robyn Fox are working in partnership with Indonesian expatriate Iwan Gunawan from INR Resources who exports the product.

Using their farm they educate farmers from Indonesia and other parts of the world to use their seed potatoes to increase their yields from less than 15 tonnes on average to yields approaching 45t per hectare.

By comparison, WA’s average yield is between 60t to 80t/ha.

Next week a group of Indonesian officials and farmers will be heading to Lake Jasper. Over the next three months about 30 farmers will be spending time working in the Fox’s business.

Mr Gunawan said Indonesians were traditionally not large consumers of potatoes – the country requires just 120,000t a year – however, with the growth in the fast food industry the demand for potato chips and fries was on the increase. He recently sold a potato processing plant to Indonesia and expects to sell another six in the medium term to cater for growth in the fast food industry.

INR also exports 200t of seed potatoes to countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand and Mauritius. Growers from those countries are also receiving similar training to their Indonesian counterparts.

To cater for the expected increase in demand a new irrigation system has been installed that is expected to double Lake Jasper’s production to 3,600t per annum within the next two years while using less than 10 per cent of the property.

Outgoing WA Trade Indonesian regional director Ross Taylor, in Perth to meet with the Indonesian officials, said that what was being achieved by Lake Jasper and INR was significant as it was being achieved solely on commercial grounds without any help from AusAid or other government grants.