Development of Kenaf Farming Business

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is a fibre-producing plant. In addition to raw materials for packaging agricultural/plantation products, kenaf fibre can be used as a material for various products, such as: paper, wallcoverings, car interiors, geo-textiles, soil safer, fibre drain, particle board, and reinforcement plastic. The kenaf commodity is currently receiving attention from the industrial world because all parts of the plant can be used as industrial commodities that have high commercial value. Thus, the development of kenaf commodities in the future has very bright prospects. Moreover, in the super-millennium era, it is expected that the world will be free from products that cause environmental pollution. The kenaf plant is an environmentally friendly plant, the biomass produced is easily degraded in the soil, so it is very suitable to be developed as an industrial raw material. This is also supported by the incessant enthusiasm for environmental safety known as “back to nature”.

In Indonesia, kenaf was developed through the people’s staple fibred intensification programmed (Iskara). This programmed began in the 1979/1980 planting season with an area of 8,300 ha. The main objectives were to increase production, farmers’ income, and meet national fibred needs, as well as to reduce imports to save foreign exchange. From an agro-ecological point of view, Indonesia has the potential as a development area for kenaf. The availability of kenaf and jute varieties that are resistant to inundation (Sastrosupadi, 1984) and the availability of Bonorowo land (land that is always flooded) in Java make this commodity grow steadily. It covered an area of 22,134 ha in MT 1986/1987 (Supriyadi Tirtosuprobo and Isdijoso, 1989). However, the availability of Bonorowo land cannot be maintained in its entirety following the government’s efforts to improve watersheds in order to conserve soil and water. Potential Bonorowo areas for the development of kenaf and jute have been converted to irrigated land for the development of food crops, so that the iskara area has decreased and in 1996/1997 only reached 2,791 hectares (Directorate General of Plantation, 1997). Most of this area is in East Java, with areas including Lamongan, Jombang, Nganjuk, Tuban and Bojonegoro. Although land conservation efforts have intensified and in general there has been a drastic shrinkage of Bonorowo areas, Bonorowo areas still exist. In such areas, kenaf is the main commodity in flood conditions. Kenaf farming on Bonorowo land can increase farmers’ income by 36% (Supriyadi-Tirtosuprobo and Isdijoso, 1989; Supriyadi Tirtosuprobo et al., 1996).

The demand for kenaf and similar fibres for sack factories has declined drastically in the last 15 years because jute sacks cannot compete with plastic sacks. Therefore, the Iskara area in 2001 was only 1,500 ha. For farmers participating in Iskara, markets for both outputs (fibre products) and inputs (means of production) to sustain the production process are indispensable. Sufficient inputs are available in the market and the fibre is entirely purchased by the Iskara programme manager. Besides being market-oriented, kenaf farming is also rational because all the products are sold. Thus, kenaf farming is a node of agribusiness life, even including the main components of agribusiness such as other agricultural companies (Kasrino et al., 1993). In entering the free market, every economic actor must be efficient in utilizing resources and have high competitiveness.

Kenaf belongs to the Malvaceae family which can be cultivated as a monoculture or intercropped with crops. Kenaf is a short-day plant with an age of 4-4.5 months. This plant is easy to cultivate and very adaptive in various growing environments such as rainfed land, flooded land, and peatland. When subjected to water stress (drought) kenaf plants are still able to survive until high production of around 1 ton/ha. If the plant is more than 1.5 to 2 months old, then it gets rainfall again, it will recover very quickly. Another characteristic is that it is resistant to waterlogging, in flooded conditions for two months it is still able to continue to grow as long as the plant conditions at the time of flooding are at least 45 days old and the shoots are not submerged in water (Sastrosupadi, 1984). With the widespread use of kenaf for industrial raw materials other than gunny sacks, the development of kenaf farming will be increasingly prominent, especially after periodically followed by the release of new superior varieties suitable for each development area. This paper is prepared to provide information that kenaf farming in Indonesia is still sustainable. The existence of kenaf farming development will run well if there is support from the kenaf commodity itself for efforts to increase farmers’ income, employment opportunities, market certainty, and product demand as a result of the development of industries that use kenaf raw materials.