Supporting organic rice exports: the success story of West Java organic rice exports

Abstract

Organic rice has been developed in various regions in Indonesia, where West Java is the largest organic rice producing center. The organic rice market’s development trend has increased significantly from year to year but faces competition from other ASEAN countries. This study aims to formulate an export strategy for Indonesian organic rice, particularly West Java. The research locations are Tasikmalaya and Bandung Regencies. The survey was conducted in March-October 2018. Data and information were collected at the provincial and regency levels through in-depth interviews with respondents related to organic rice development, including farmers, administrators of farmer groups/farmer groups association, and traders. SWOT analysis was employed in processing the data and information. The analysis results show that organic rice exports are in the Strength – Threat (S – T) quadrant, which indicates that the organic rice export strategy has a decisive strength factor but faces significant challenges. The main strategy needed to encourage organic rice exports is to take advantage of the strength of support from the Regional Government in developing organic rice to overcome the threat of expanding organic rice from other producing countries with higher competitiveness.