Agro-Industry Production System Improvement of the Gambir^s Derivative Products (Uncaria gambir Roxb) to Increase Farmer^s Wealthiness
Wedy Nasrul, Rudi Kurniawan Arief, Dedi Satria, Afdhil Arel, Leli Suwita, Revi Ernanda, M Fajri

Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Barat

Abstract

The production system is a process that physically changes a product from input to output. Gambir is one of West Sumatra^s agricultural feature products. Unfortunately, this product sold at relatively low prices due to its low quality and semi-finished production. These low-quality and semi-finished products have low prices and are detrimental to farmers. This study aims to improve the current production system which leads to an increase in the farmer^s profit. This research was conducted on the Ngalau Jaya Farmer Group using quantitative and qualitative methods. Research results show that Gambir^s production system consists of three steps- input, process and output. However, the non-optimum production system yields low-quality and low-price Gambir product. Currently, the Gambir product produced in this area is the Gambir paste only and sold for Rp. 80,000/Kg. Improvement of the new production system introduced in this research is to derive two valuable chemical substances contained inside the Gambier, namely catechins and tannins. Through the improvement of the production system, these two products produced could be sold at a relatively very high price. The price of catechins ranges from Rp. 2,000,000/Kg, while tannins are around Rp. 300,000/Kg. This new production system could increase the farmer^s income by 4 to 25 times higher.

Keywords: Agro-industry, gambir, production system

Topic: Agro-industrial production system management and regulation