“Moving from shallot bulbs to shallot seeds in Indonesia; the experience of De Groot & Slot in Indonesia”
During a virtual coffee with Rob Bekker, we talked about his experiences on the ‘True Seeded Shallot’ project in Indonesia. Rob Bekker works for De Groot & Slot, which is specialized in onion breeding and seed production and based in Broek op Langedijk in the Netherlands. With over 65 years of experience, de Groot en Slot explored the Indonesian onion seed market through the ‘True Seeded Shallot’ project.
Please, tell me more about the True seeded Shallot project in Indonesia
“The true seeded shallot (TSS) is a new product that we introduced. Onions are mainly produced from seeds, but shallots are mainly multiplied vegetatively. There are many places in the world where cultivation from seed is not well developed, and where main multiplication strategy is vegetatively. This typically means that one shallot is split in six parts which can be replanted again”.
“In Indonesia this is the common practice, with 100% of shallot propagated vegetatively. De Groot & Slot were the first to introduce a shallot from seeds. We first developed these for long-day regions and later we came up with a short-day shallot for tropical areas like in Asia. Now, we ran into the problem that the standard seed market that of shallots. So, we had to find the best way was to reach farmers with our new products in this part of the world.”
“In the beginning we started growing the bulb ourselves and sold it to the growers. In practice this proved to be difficult, as we had difficulties matching our supply with the different seasons. So we were not synchronized in the marketing of the product.”
“In addition, there was a barrier for exporting shallots from Thailand to Indonesia. Due to the political circumstances, Indonesia closed its borders for trade of shallots, because they wanted to protect their own market. We found out that 25% of the shallot production in Thailand was exported to Indonesia. As a result of import ban, the value of shallots decreased a lot in Thailand.”
“After this, we decided to go to Indonesia. And we did our introduction directly from seeds, which is more intensive and needs more financial resources. We started to train people and it took time, but the marketing went well.”
“We learned that when starting in new markets, you have to find solutions in the hard way. And this is often not the fastest solution. Starting somewhere new takes time and one should be patient when introducing new services or products. Things that might not seem relevant in the beginning, can be very important for the success of your product in the long term.”
“We have had some setbacks during Covid-19, but the support from the DHI program allowed us to implement a demonstration project that showed in an approachable way how shallot production from seeds works. We received a lot of enthusiasm from local growers.”
What has been the focus of the project?
“The focus of our project is to introduce good quality shallot seeds. As I mentioned before, in Indonesia, people were used to growing shallots from seed bulbs. So our objective was to introduce shallot seeds. By introducing good quality seeds the competitiveness the Indonesian shallot sector is improved. The productivity of our shallot seed is much higher than the local seed bulb system.”
What is the specific role and added value of Dutch partners in your project?
“We export seeds and that creates a turnover for us in the Netherlands, and it creates work for people both in the Netherlands and Indonesia.”
“We also contribute to more food security in Indonesia, because the productivity of our varieties is higher. There is also quite a lot of pesticide use in the tropics and we trained farmers on better use of pesticides. The yield of the local product is a factor two lower than our product.”
“We also try and involve women as much as possible in our activities. This is not always easy, as Indonesia is a largely Muslim country and men dominate agriculture. In most cases, women depend on their husband's approval to work somewhere. At the same time, we observed that women are often better trained than men, and we also observed that they manage the finances within the households.”
What has been your biggest success so far?
“When going back to the areas where we interacted during our implementation, I often meet growers who started using our seeds and increased their productivity and income. For me, these moments show exactly the results we wished for when we started. A good crop and yield shows that we have introduced something of good quality. In short, it confirms that we are good suppliers. It makes me happy when a grower chooses our seeds and makes a good profit, and with this profit he can buy himself a motorcycle for example.”
Photo by Rob Bekker
How does the project contribute to SDG 13: Climate action?
“After the introduction of our seeds, the use of fertilizers is less than before. Our varieties are much more resistant than the local varieties and therefore we have 60% more yield than the other varieties. Higher productivity means less land use and this can lead to more crop rotation possibilities. Before people were pushed into a funnel to make the highest possible value with one crop. Other crops such as peppers, tomatoes and rice can now also be applied for rotation.”
“Besides better practices, we also did a project with Wageningen University to see in what area we could best do our activities without the need for cutting trees. For our area selection we used these GIS maps and looked at elevation, pH, soil type, precipitation, elevation and absence of forest cutting.”
What would you have done differently in retrospect if you could start all over again?
“In Thailand we used a grant opportunity to get started. But we had to set up our own business within three years with a certain amount funding. This deadline was limiting our activities while a grant should not be leading in the way you start new operations somewhere. An important factor is to bring the right people together and this takes a lot of time.”
What else have you learned during the different project phases?
“In fact, you should never rely on one single success and be patient. You always must deal with uncertainties and one of these uncertainties is the government and changes in legislation. New variety release protocols had to be written for this new product, and we learned from that. In Thailand I always had to prove that our products were not Genetically Modified.”
What advice would you give to other seed sector project implementers?
“My advice would be that you must go through the logical steps to get to your objective, even if it is very time consuming. And when implementing a project, you should try to focus mostly on the successes rather than emphasizing the difficulties. It already takes a lot of energy when things get difficult, while it gives more energy to focus on successes, even if they seem little.”
“You must also deal with different regulations depending on the country, such as variety registration. In Indonesia you must go to different places to get your variety registered, and it is a very different process than in the Netherlands and you have to organize everything yourself. As a seed company you have to have a long-term focus and not focus on quick wins.”
For you personally, what are some of the reasons that you enjoy working in the seed sector?
“People often ask me when I have been to Thailand if I have done touristy things and visited cultural hotspots. The answer is no. When I visit Thailand I want to go to the field as soon as possible to see how things have progressed. When I am in a field with a grower, and I am invited to his home, and we drink fresh coconut I’m happy. The hospitality I experience there makes me feel grateful. With knowledge transfer you can achieve so much; you spend a lot of time explaining and preventing failures. So you realize that your knowledge is appreciated. In addition, I find it so special to get to know all kinds of different cultural norms and values. I find that a humbling experience for myself.”
