Where truckloads of quality grow online

Online services enable smallholders to reach a much wider circle of lucrative customers. But finding the right partner is crucial. A program in Indonesia is off to a good start. 

Sayurbox is one of Indonesia’s largest online grocery companies. Among many other products, it provides high-quality vegetables and fruits directly from smallholders. “Sayurbox has simplified supply chains, solved unfair pricing, and widened the reach of fresh produce”, comments Teddy Tambu, head of our local implementing organization YASI.  “Its combination of rapid e-commerce development and a commitment to our nation’s small farmers makes Sayurbox a perfect partner for YASI.” 

Last August, Teddy and Sayurbox President Agung Ayu Metha Trisnawati signed a Memorandum of Understanding. “This MoU aims to support agricultural economic growth”, explains Natasha Roring, YASI’s Partnership and Communication Lead. “Through our Pancer Tani program, it helps smallholders earn good incomes by producing best-quality commodities for the national market.” 

YASI Field Officers help the young entrepreneurs running Pancer Tani farmers’ hubs to meet the high Sayurbox standards for farm produce quality and timing. The main crops involved are chili, cabbage, carrot, squash, potato, sapodilla, melon, watermelon, avocado, and rice. Clear guidance from YASI and Sayurbox helps the smallholders rise to the challenge of meeting orders at just a day’s notice. 

By the end of 2021, almost 330 smallholders were supplying fresh produce to Sayurbox. “They recently reached a first big milestone of 1000kg of horticulture commodities”, Natasha adds. “The total value across all the hubs involved could reach as much as $760,000 per year”, she estimates.

“The agriculture sector has traditionally been a backbone of our nation's economic growth”, Teddy Tambu comments. “It has also proved highly resilient during the pandemic. We hope that this cooperation with Sayurbox will build on that strong position, contribute to Indonesia's food security and brighten up many smallholders’ future.”   

Our photo shows Kenny (right), a Pancer Tani owner, with a Sayurbox sourcing collector.