MANGUPURA ~

Badung Regency, Bali, targeting 50 hectares of Asparagus plantation in  Pelaga vilage, considering the demand from various companies continue to increase.

“Currently, we have developed 46 hectares of land with eight groups of farmers and have penetrated markets in several neighboring countries,” said Head of Industry and Trade of Badung, I Ketut Karpiana in Pelaga on Wednesday.

According to him, the area of development also gets coaching directly from agricultural experts from the Foundation for International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), Taiwan until 2015.

By the end of the mentoring period, they were confident of being able to develop asparagus plantation area up to 50 hectares of land.

Moreover, in terms of economic, Asparagus is promising as demand from a number of hospitality, corporate, and neighboring countries is quite high.

Every farmer who develops 7 acres of Asparagus plantation will be able to earn 400 thousand per day. “The results are quite promising than civil servants or employees in a particular company,” he said.

Meanwhile, Su Tien Chi, agricultural experts from the Foundation for International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), Taiwan, said that the area of the northern part of Badung or Petang are good enough to be developed into agricultural areas of Asparagus as temperature and soil conditions are good.

“Moreover, Plaga Village’s Asparagus production is the best in Asia based on the results of research of the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB),” he said.

It shows the agricultural potential of Asparagus in Badung is quite promising in terms of environmental conditions, as well as sales prospects.

They are committed to continue to support and educate local farmers in developing Asparagus.