Marketing efficiency perspective of sustainable Andaliman agroforestry in Humbang Hasundutan Regency

Abstract

Indonesia has so many herbal medicinal plants and spices that are endemic and location-specific since it has a very vast tropical rainforest area. One of them is Andaliman (Zanthoxylum acanthopodium DC). This endemic species is very sensitive to climate and location changes so the farmers only have around 5 Andaliman trees planted in between any other kind of plants in their agroforestry land on average. There is an undeveloped and very promising future for the competitiveness improvement of Indonesia’s herbs and spices. This study was accomplished to investigate the marketing efficiency of Andaliman agroforestry in Humbang Hasundutan Regency to accommodate stakeholders in formulating policies to progress Andaliman's competitiveness. The results showed that all of Andaliman’s marketing channels in the research area were efficient. The most efficient was Channel II, followed by Channel III, and the last position was seated by Channel I. Marketing losses and labour costs were at the top of the list as the largest marketing costs, so they truly needed to be optimized at almost all channel levels and types of marketing channels to improve marketing efficiency. Therefore, referring to these results, we composed a suggestion to improve farmers' welfare by doing simple processing such as processing Andaliman into several dried and packaged products that are easier to use, long-last, and attractive, as well as combining more efficient production with distribution in shorter marketing channels. This will encourage farmers to maintain Andaliman agroforestry as a farming option that is more sustainable and natural.