Councilor denounces palm oil plantation conversion

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 11/11/2011

The plan to convert tea plantations in North Sumatra to palm oil plantations could be detrimental to local economies and the environment, a local councilor said.

Councilor Irwansyah Damanik said the conversion would adversely affect the livelihoods of many people in the province, particularly those living in Simalungun and Pematangsiantar regencies, where most plantations are located.

Land conversions also affect the Earth’s natural ability to absorb rain, thus posing the threat of flooding, he said. In contrast, water scarcity is also another threat because palm oil plantations consume more water, he said.

Damanik said that he had already discussed his concerns regarding the plan, which was proposed by state agriculture company PT Perkebunan Nusantara IV with Pematangsiantar Regional Development Board (Bappeda) chief Herowhin Sinaga, who also expressed objections to the plan.

Damanik said that the city government had serious doubts about the conversion plan due to potential impacts on water supply for the region.

Assam tea estate goes organic

BBC News, Gossainbarie, Assam, By Subir Bhaumik

Production at Gossainbarie tea estate has gone up since it started using organic manure

Visitors making their way along the muddy track leading to the Gossainbarie tea estate in India's north-eastern Assam state will be greeted by huge mounds of cow dung, rotting water hyacinth, as well as and fish and meat waste.

But this is no cause for alarm - the tea-estate has gone organic and is following the principles of India's ancient plant medicine Vriksh Ayurveda.

"This is our fertiliser because we don't use any chemical ones in our gardens," says Gossainbarie's owner Binod Saharia.

He has enlisted the help of a hermit-like bearded figure - former management consultant Swami Valmiki Iyengara.

Mr Iyengara says he has studied Vriksh Ayurveda, a system of traditional medicine, and evolved a concept of organic farming that is both sustainable and profitable.

"All pollutants are useful wastes and we can convert most of them into organic manure," he says.

"The ancient Indian plant medicine details processes for creating organic fertiliser from virtually anything.

"Much as poisons like mercury are used in traditional Indian medicine, pollutants diluted with other materials produce the best fertiliser," he adds.

Half of India's tea output comes from Assam

Water hyacinth, cow dung and cow urine have long been used as manure.

But Mr Iyengara has also developed organic manure from fish waste, "charasuda" (butcher house waste), "indsafari" (small fish) and the "bhasmas" (made from herbs and metals).

"We have enough organic fertilisers for a few planting seasons," he says.

Mr Iyengara and Mr Saharia say they have almost perfected the practice of organic farming.

They believe this could clean up India's - and Assam's - rural environment, which has been polluted by high use of insecticides, pest repellent and highly toxic chemical fertilisers.

Environmentalists argue these are penetrating the food chain and threatening the health of millions.

'Ailing estate' rescued

Going organic can also boost the market price of Indian tea and open up new niche markets.

These are factors that can help the country's tea industry overcome the high production costs caused by rising wages and expensive chemical fertilisers.

When Mr Saharia took over the ailing Gossainbarie tea estate from Assamese planter Mohammed Arfanulla early last year, the 140-year-old tea estate was waiting for someone to turn it around.

Locally available water hyacinth is also used to make manure

The estate's annual output had plummeted from its peak 900,000 kg of green leaves to 355,000 kg a year.

One year on and things are looking up - the estate is poised to produce 600,000 kg.

Mr Saharia says he now wants other Indian tea planters to adopt his technology.

"We have no trade secrets. We want the whole of Indian tea industry to go organic all the way.

"In many estates, lazy managers routinely use chemical fertilisers even after the soil has gone dead. We want them to be creative."

'Unique experience'

Inderjit Singh Oberoi, a retired soldier-turned-manager, has worked for estates much bigger than Gossainbarie, but he joined up six months ago to gain experience.

"The concept being tried out here is unique and I want to be part of it," he says. "This could save Indian tea and get it niche buyers."

India's tea industry is burdened with rising costs of production and falling prices.

Cows are a useful income supplement for the labourers

Rampant use of chemical fertilisers and adulteration have denied Indian tea access to health conscious European markets.

India produced 981m kg of tea in 2009 - almost a quarter of the world's total tea output. Nearly 200m kg were exported.

Half of India's tea output - nearly 450m kg - comes from Assam's 800-odd tea estates.

Mr Saharia and Mr Iyengara say they encourage labourers at the estate to keep cows and collect waste.

That way, they are never short of raw material for organic fertiliser and also "it is an income supplement for the poor labourers".

Some Indian tea planters, such as Swaraj Banerji of the famous Makaibari tea estate, in the Darjeeling Hills of West Bengal state, turned organic long ago.

The Makaibari estate pioneered the practice of motivating tea labourer families to keep cows and supply the dung and urine to the estate.

"But we have shown the way for all tea planters to go organic on a sustainable basis because we can develop organic fertilisers from virtually all kinds of locally available material," Mr Saharia says.

'Reservations'

Mr Iyengara has also used his knowledge of modern management to develop a system by which fewer labourers are needed to apply the organic manure, over a wider area and in less time.

"Labour costs are the biggest overhead in Indian tea production and they make our teas less competitive in global markets," he says.

"But we have found a way to cut down hugely on labour costs by saving up on manure application time."

Mr Oberoi says he had "reservations" about the organic tea cultivation until he joined Gossainbarie.

"Now I know that the ancient plant medicine and the modern management concepts can work magic," he says.

Indonesia pledges to `feed the world'

Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 01/30/2010 12:54 PM

Indonesia has reiterated its commitment to becoming a major global food producer by boosting the production of 15 key food commodities.

Fransiscus Wilerang, head of the Permanent Committee for Food Resilience at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), said Friday that the successful implementation of the program could contribute at least US$101.5 billion to the country's revenues for the 2010-2014 period.

The 15 food commodities, Fransiscus said, included four "strategic" ones - rice, corn, sugar and soybeans - and six "key" commodities, consisting of palm oil, tea, coffee, cocoa, tuna and shrimp.

Other categories are "nutritious" (beef and poultry), and "local popular" products (mangos, bananas and oranges).

The 10 strategic and key commodities are part of the government's 2009-2014 road map for food development.

The plan aims to, among others, allow domestic crude palm oil (CPO) producers to expand their plantations from the total 7.9 million hectares as of the end of 2009, to 9.7 million hectares by 2015.

The expansion is expected to help boost CPO production to 36.6 million tons.

Production of another key crop, coffee, is expected to reach 737,000 tons this year, or 142 percent more than domestic consumption.

Under the road map, the 433,000-ton surplus will be exported.

Coffee exports are expected to increase by 4.69 percent annually until 2020, when 636,000 tons of the total production of 973,000 tons is expected to be exported.

"Considering Indonesia's potential to achieve food self-sufficiency, we have to see the global food crisis as an opportunity and participate in efforts to supply food for the world," Fransiscus told hundreds of participants at the "Feed the World" seminar, organized by Kadin.

"We've agreed to develop the idea into a concept of food self-sufficiency and supply food for the world, or *Feed the World'."

At a press conference after the seminar, Kadin deputy chairman Franky Widjaja said the revenue from the 15 commodities could amount to $101.5 billion.

"If we manage to promote this at the downstream level in the next five years, this could more than just a dream," he said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who officiated the seminar and subsequent expo, said it was important for Indonesia to help address the world's food security issues, pointing out the consequences for not doing so could include the incitement of conflicts, as with water or energy issues.

He said to help achieve the "Feed the World" goal, the government would continue the first wave of its farming, plantation and fishery revitalization programs, lasting from 2004 to 2009, with the second phase set for the next five years.

Yudhoyono added that while Indonesia needed to maintain self-sufficiency in rice and corn production, it needed to achieve the same self-sufficiency in sugar production while reducing its dependence on imported soybeans.

He also reminded businesses not to neglect demand from the domestic market for the sake of more lucrative markets overseas.

"Why feed the world if we still have problems with food supplies and price instability at home," he said.

"The program **Feed the World'* should be understood as *Feed Indonesia, then feed the world'."

Investment Coordinating Board chairman Gita Wirjawan told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the government would categorize main staple foods such as rice and corn among the types of commodities that foreign interests would be restricted from investing in.

"These commodities are key to our national security, so it is within our interests to protect them," he said.

Tea export share may fall, but income rise

The Jakarta Post | Sat, 02/14/2009 11:01 AM

More tea please!: Tea pickers working at Tambaksari tea plantation in Subang, West Java. Indonesia foresees a decline in its share of the global export tea market in 2009 due to stagnation in the production capacity of the industry, the Indonesia Tea Board (BTI) said on Friday. ANTARA/REZZA ESTILY.

The Indonesia Tea Board (DTI) forecasts a potential decline in Indonesia’s share of the global tea market this year given flat output due to declining prices and the increasing conversion rate of tea plantations.

“We rank sixth in the world for tea exports today, but it’s very possible that we’re going to be the seventh by the end of 2009,” DTI production department head Insyaf Malik said during a press conference on the upcoming tea and coffee exhibition on Friday.

“Our market share has been declining since 2003. Back then we had around 5 percent of market share while today we can only secure around 3.9 percent,” said Malik.

Indonesia markets around 60 percent of its tea production capacity to the international market with around 51 percent of exports destined to Europe and Russia.

Malik argued the decline in the share was primarily attributable to stagnant output.

“While global tea production is constantly increasing, our production has remained at around 150,000 tons per year during the last five years,” he said.

DTI data shows the flat output is caused by a combination of factors, including fluctuations in tea prices, which discourage farmers to plant the crop, and increasing conversion of tea plantations for industrial and property use.

This is evident as the plantation area has shrunk to 133,000 hectares last year from 136.000 hectares in 2006, according to the DTI.

“The industry players seem reluctant to invest in area expansion because, frankly, the tea business has not been very profitable in the last five years,” Malik said.

However, Malik is upbeat that the industry could increase the value of exports despite flat output.

“We believe that because of potential increases in the prices for the commodity, export value is likely to reach US$140 million this year from $135 million last year,” he said.

Output is forecast to reach as much as 153,000 tons this year. But if there is a drought then output will only reach 145,000 tons, according to Malik.

However, DTI marketing and promotion head Tridjoko Subandrio said the country’s tea industry would face other stiff challenges with the planned signing of a free trade agreement between the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) with India during the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Thailand on Feb. 27.

“From our point of view, the deal is more like a challenge rather than an opportunity,” Subandrio said.

As the second largest tea exporter after China, India is one of the main competitors in the global tea market for Indonesia.

Subandrio said that DTI would encourage tea producers to focus more on increasing production for domestic consumption.

“Our research shows that an Indonesian only consumes 300 grams of tea per year. We should find ways to promote tea as a lifestyle product and hopefully we can increase local consumption to up to 600 grams per head per year,” he said.

“We also hope that the government would reduce tea imports from other countries.” (hdt)

Mahkota Dewa Tea, an herbal cure-all

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Kulonprogo, Yogyakarta

Lamuri had a heart complaint and hypertension for some time. The woman from Kampung Bahari, North Jakarta, did not see any improvements, even after consulting specialists several times.

"I started drinking Mahkota Dewa Tea and then I regained my health," she said.

Muhidin Hasan told a different story. The father of three from Plumbon in Kulonprogo regency's Temon district, almost lost his sense of self-worth before his wife: He suffered from erectile dysfunction.

"After regularly drinking Mahkota Dewa Tea, we could resume intimacy in less than a month," he claimed.

These are only two of the numerous people enjoying the benefits of Mahkota Dewa Tea. This herbal concoction is composed of 70 percent Mahkota Dewa, also known as the Crown of God (Phaleria Papuana) fruit, 20 percent green tea (Camelia sinensis) and 10 percent tea parasites (Scurrula cetropurpurea).

The tea is also believed to cure various other diseases and ailments, including cancers and tumors, to reduce the uric acid content in the bloodstream and to burn cholesterol, because it contains the key organic compounds needed by the human body.

The tea blend has been produced as an herbal drug since 2003 by PT Salama Nusantara, which employs 150 farmers in Samigaluh, Kulonprogo. It is licensed by the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) and the Ministry of Health, and is certified by the Indonesian Ulema Council.

PT Salama Nusantara director Maryono said that research carried out by Sumastuti of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University (UGM) had found the Mahkota Dewa fruit to contain antihistamines, flavonoids, saponin, polyohenol and other substances with analgesic, anti-bacterial and blood sugar-lowering effects.

Separately, a green tea study by Johannes Guitenburg of Germany's Mainz University indicated that the presence of active antioxidants and anti-carcinogen components in the leaves was effective for the prevention of cellular and DNA damage caused by free radicals, which are connected to cancers and heart problems.

"Tea parasites are useful for cancer prevention," added Maryono.

To maintain a product quality devoid of chemicals, the company's farmers use organic fertilizers in growing the herbs. UGM personnel, acting as advisers and supervisors, conduct regular field checks to make sure that the plants are completely free of inorganic elements.

The herbal mixture is also made according to a strict process: desiccated Mahkota Dewa fruit is blended with green tea and tea parasites at a ratio of 7:3:1; green tea is freeze-dried to maintain its medicinal properties.

"The entire blending process is overseen by pharmacists for quality control," Maryono told The Jakarta Post during a visit to his secondary production site on Jl. Tentara Pelajar in Sebokarang, Wates regency.

The blend is then packaged in ordinary 100-gram plastic pouches, each priced at Rp 20,000, and in the more fashionable 130-gram cardboard boxes, each priced Rp 35,000.

"Though the packaging and content weight are different, they have the same efficacy," Maryono assured.

Export & employment

Two thousand packs of Mahkota Dewa Tea are now manufactured daily. Their marketing is handled by agents in Jakarta and Surabaya, and in major cities across Bali.

"We expect to have more marketing agents in other cities. But we still impose strict requirements to guarantee product quality," stressed Maryono.

Since this year, Mahkota Dewa Tea has been sought by overseas consumers, and Malaysia and Suriname have each ordered 50,000 packages.

"We deliver 2,000 packages to Malaysia weekly. As there are no direct flights to Suriname, we make monthly deliveries to that country," revealed Maryono.

Aside from maintaining strict quality control, job creation is another priority of PT Salama Nusantara in its herbal drug manufacturing business.

In packaging, for instance, the company uses no machines.

"For packaging work, we employ 24 people, while only three are needed with machines. We want to provide jobs," said Maryono.

In addition, farmers are trained to mince and half-dry the Mahkota Dewa fruit, and supply the fruit in this half-processed form.

"In this way, they can enjoy greater financial benefits," said Maryono. "The fruit only costs Rp 1,000 per kilogram. We pay them Rp 10,000 for 1 kg of half-processed fruit, which requires 7 kg of raw material to make."

Maryono said that quite a number of consumers had requested the herbal medicine be produced in syrup form for easy consumption, but the constraint was the liquid tea's shelf life.

"We are studying whether a liquid blend is as effective as our dried product. Otherwise, we won't produce syrup because we use no preservatives," he said.

Maryono started his herbal medicine business because of a personal concern over the presence of various over-the-counter drugs and supplements containing substances hazardous to the health. Many medicinal products and supplements have now been found to contain harmful -- and illegal -- chemicals, preservatives, and additives.

"Consumers should be careful, as some so-called herbal drugs have a high chemical content," Maryono cautioned.

In cooperation with UGM and local farmers, Maryono set up the company in 2003, with hopes that Indonesia would regain its potential in the health market through indigenous herbal medicine production.

Indonesia was known previously for an indigenous herb called Jawa Dwipa but, said Maryono, "it was abandoned although it had already been proven to have positive health benefits".

While wondering why Indonesians relied so much on foreign health products, Maryono noted that several types of drugs and supplements from Malaysia or Singapore, sold at high prices here, were manufactured with raw materials from Indonesia.

The main challenge to Indonesia's herbal medicine industry is the existence of "herbal" drugs loaded with chemicals.

"So we are producing drugs without preservatives or additives to restore the public trust and to prompt consumers to be more selective in buying health products," said Maryono.

Unilever to sell environmentally sustainable tea

By Marcy Nicholson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The company that produces Lipton tea, one of the world's biggest black tea buyers, aims to obtain all its tea from plantations deemed sustainable, a U.S.-based watchdog group said on Friday.

Announcing its first such agreement with a tea company, the Rainforest Alliance said Unilever, which owns such well-known brands as Lipton and PG Tips, will begin selling Rainforest Alliance certified tea.

"This decision will transform the tea industry which has been suffering for many years from oversupply and underperformance," Unilever Chief Executive Patrick Cescau said in a release.

Rainforest Alliance certification requires three levels of sustainability - worker welfare, farm management and environmental protection. The first certified tea will come from Kericho, Kenya, an estate expected to be certified within weeks, to be sold in European restaurants and to caterers in August.

Read More ....

Cocoa But Not Tea Linked To Blood Pressure Reduction

Medical News Today

Article Date: 10 Apr 2007 - 4:00 PDT

A German study suggests there is evidence that cocoa but not tea is linked to blood pressure reduction.

The study is published in the American Medical Association journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

Dr Dirk Taubert and colleagues from the Department of Pharmacology at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany, reviewed the medical literature for dietary effects of cocoa and black and green tea on blood pressure over the last 40 years.

They specifically searched for trials involving 10 or more adults that examined the before and after effects of consuming cocoa, black or green tea for at least 7 days on systolic (when the heart pumps, the higher reading) and diastolic (when the heart relaxes, the lower reading) blood pressure.

Looking at cocoa, they selected 5 randomized controlled trials on cocoa on a total of 173 people lasting for a median duration of 2 weeks. On analyzing the data from these trials they discovered that:

-- The pooled mean systolic blood pressure for the cocoa consumers was 4.7 mm of mercury lower than for the non-cocoa consumers.

-- The diastolic figure was 2.8 mm lower.

-- These effects were sufficiently significant to show that cocoa was linked to reduced blood pressure.

Looking at tea, they selected 5 controlled trials covering a total of 343 people that lasted for a median duration of 4 weeks. The analysis on the tea trials showed that:

-- The pooled mean systolic blood pressure for the tea consumers was 0.4 mm of mercury lower than for the non-tea consumers.

-- The diastolic figure was 0.6 mm lower.

-- These effects were not significant enough to show that tea was linked to decrease in blood pressure.

The researchers concluded that "Current randomized dietary studies indicate that consumption of foods rich in cocoa may reduce blood pressure, while tea intake appears to have no effect".

Dr Taubert speculated that the flavonoid content of cocoa is probably the most likely explanation for the effect on blood pressure.

He was cautious to point out that the specific studies they investigated were of short duration, looking at before and after effects, under controlled conditions.

It does not necessarily mean that eating a little bit of chocolate every day will lower your blood pressure. There are many other factors to consider, for instance the calories consumed, and whether the chocolate that you eat or drink is rich in flavonoids.

Manufacturers of chocolate often remove the flavonoids because they make the chocolate taste bitter. Also, the effect of milk or sugar being present in the chocolate was not examined in this research.

"Effect of Cocoa and Tea Intake on Blood Pressure: A Meta-analysis."
Dirk Taubert, Renate Roesen, Edgar Schömig.
Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:626-634.
Vol. 167 No. 7, April 9, 2007

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