Social Affairs Minister Invites Youths to Pursue Ornamental Plant Business Opportunities

JAKARTA (14 October 2022) - Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini expressed her hope that youths can pursue business opportunities through ornamental plant cultivation. This was conveyed by Risma while attending the Floriculture Indonesia International Convex (FLOII) event at the Jakarta Convention Center, Friday (14/10).

"As if you're selling plants and becoming a gardener. Why is it a burden when you can have a Mercedes?" said the Minister when answering reporters' questions.

The Minister said that youths are often ashamed to be farmers, even though the business opportunities from the agricultural sector are very lucrative considering that ornamental plants from Indonesia are in great demand. Therefore, she encourages youths to take advantage of this opportunity.

The plants that Risma highlighted the most were plants from Papua. According to her, Papua has various types of ornamental plants. She saw this potential when she visited several areas in Papua to distribute social assistance. The easternmost province in Indonesia has endemic ornamental plants that have the potential to become export commodities.

This encourages her to empower youths of Papua so that they can develop businesses from ornamental plants. By doing so, they can increase economic growth and improve welfare.

"The richest ornamental plants are in Papua. Hence, I want to teach the youths to cultivate ornamental plants," she said.

FLOII is an international ornamental plant or floriculture exhibition organized by the Indonesian Floriculture Association (PFI). This event was held to bring together ornamental plant cultivators with domestic and foreign buyers.

In addition to opening the event, the Minister also toured the exhibition stands and talked directly with ornamental plant activists. The presence of the Minister, at this event, cannot be separated from her fondness for collecting ornamental plants. While working at Jalan Salemba Raya 28, Risma has transformed the Ministry of Social Affairs Office into a green office with the presence of plants that refresh the eyes.

Also present at the event were the Director General of Horticulture of the Ministry of Agriculture Prihasto Setyanto, Deputy for Food and Agribusiness Coordination at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Mushdalifah Machmud, Assistant Deputy for Partnership and Market Expansion of the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs Fixy, Main Expert of Deputy 3 Offices of Presidential Staff Bustanul Arifin, and Military Commander III Siliwangi Maj. Gen. Kunto Arief Wibowo.

Public Relations Bureau

Ministry of Social Affairs