KUALA LUMPUR: Jannafarm Sdn Bhd has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Geo Artha International (M) Sdn Bhd to market and export it’s black ginger products to the Indonesian and South Korean market.
On Aug 14, the MoU was signed by Jannafarm CEO Engku Azhan Fahmi and Geo Artha International’s Zuraini Hasanuddin, witnessed by Geo Artha Indonesia strategic partner Abdul Wahab, who is also the CEO of PT Dirgantara Wahana Angkasa Semesta.
According to Geo Artha which has 17 years of experience in global marketing in Indonesia, the country has a population of 275 million, of which 30% is their company’s main target market within five years.
It said these target consumers are prepared to pay premium price for high quality imported Malaysian F&B products as this has been proven before and they expect this market to grow up to RM10 million per annum in the next two to three years.
The company also believes this collaboration will bring a win-win for the three nations – Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea.
Engku Azhan said “We are always on the lookout for export partners to bring our products overseas. Our black ginger products has received very positive response at the local retail market. They’re now available at Giant, Mercato, Jaya Grocer, Sogo, TVF Value Mart, 7-Eleven and the latest will be KK-Mart and Aeon. We’ll be launching our ‘win RM20,000 cash’ competition in a few weeks. Just watch out for our upcoming announcement.”
A certified nutritionist Peggy Ng said there are over 100 clinical studies done on black ginger that demonstrates its health benefits and its popularity in Thailand (also known as thai ginseng), especially within the muay thai sports community where they’re regularly used for boosting energy, muscle building and expediting recovery of injury after fights.
She added Jannafarm products are the very few that use stevia or low gi nano-sugar.
Jannafarm chairman Datuk Dr Othman Omar said “This is one of Jannafarm’s effort to help the local black ginger farmers. We provide our contract farmers with off-take arrangements at an agreed price before they start farming so that they eliminate the risk of uncertainty in market demand and price fluctuation at harvest.”
He added that the average yield per ha per year for black ginger farms are much higher compared to oil palm. Sometimes even over 100 times higher, but the plant requires a lot of care and do not allow the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticide.
“The government should impose higher tax on these imported raw and processed food products to support the local farmers and manufacturers. We should learn from countries like Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Bangladesh that have successfully developed their local health food and agricultural industry, and made it into a multi-billion dollar industry.”
JannaFarm is a social agri-enterprise located at Lang Agro Park near Kuah, Langkawi where they grow premium quality organic black ginger. It cultivates high-yield, short cycle and premium value crops with the aid of technology. They use 95% less water using drip-fertigation, zero pesticide using natural pest control, composting for organic fertilisers, booster enzymes and effective microbes to produce high quality rhizomes whilst protecting the environment. They are currently working on getting organic certification for their rhizomes.
