IPC Award was obtained by East Luwu Pepper farmers

The International Pepper Community (IPC) was named Baharuddin, a pepper farmer from East Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi, as the best farmer in the IPC Award event. Baharuddin won the category of The Best Farmer 2016 in the IPC Award which was held in Sri Lanka, some time ago.

When met at the Ministry of Trade during the award ceremony on Monday (13/11), Baharuddin admitted that he could produce 9-10 tons of malonan pepper per hectare per year. This amount far exceeds the production of other farmers, who on average are only able to produce two tons of pepper per hectare.

According to Baharuddin, two main keys make land productivity very high. First, the wood used as a vine for pepper plants with a height of 4-5 meters. It is taller than other farmers who only use poles with a maximum length of two meters.

Second, Baharuddin planted his pepper trees with a distance of 2.5 meters between the trees. It is wider than what other farmers usually do, which is only two meters. He admitted that he had just implemented such a cropping pattern. “When we started doing this, we could immediately produce up to 10 tons per hectare,” he said, at the Office of the Ministry of Trade.

Furthermore, he immediately sells these crops to exporters to be sold to pepper importing countries.

IPC Executive Director Hoang Thi Lien said every year his party awards the best pepper farmers, the best pepper exporters, and the best innovative pepper products. The award, according to him, was given to motivate farmers and business actors to continue to improve their respective qualities. Therefore, he also hopes that Baharuddin can inspire other farmers in the area so that they can increase the productivity of their pepper fields.