President Joko Widodo ordered Minister of Agriculture to Seriously Handle Porang Plant Export
On August 19, during a visit to a porang plant processing company PT Asia Prima Konjac in Madiun, East Java, President Widodo asked Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo to seriously consider the porang plant (Amorphophallus muelleri) as an export commodity. According to President Widodo, porang plant is predicted to be popular as the main ingredient in healthy food in the near future.
Porang plant has a high concentration of glucomannan compound. The glucomannan compound is considered a healthy food source as it can lower cholesterol levels, lower blood sugar levels, prevent cancer, help lose weight, and treat constipation. Glucomannan compounds can also be used for coating pills in the medical field. President Widodo wished that Indonesia could export the half-processed or final product of porang plant. PT Asia Prima Konjac produces flour made of porang plant, and in the future, it will expand its production to rice-based porang plant. Each hectare of porang plant field can produce around 15-20 tons. In a harvest time of eight months period, the farmer can collect up to 40 million tons.
