Handry brought him from the Nurseri in Pathumtani, Thailand, April 2009 along with other beautiful-look cactus. Call it the Astrophytum asterias ' superkabuto ' big V diameter 7 cm and Astrophytum myriostigma quadricostatum variegata. Each of them was priced at RP5-million and Rp3-million. Uncle Chorn (owner of the Nurseri in Thailand, Red), only sells mature crops. He didn't sell the seeds, ' says Handry.
The most banter Chorn took off the ' saplings ' with a diameter of 2.5 – 3 cm. This one is more affordable. Handhi, for example, 300 astrophytum – type of Asterias and myriostigma with diameter 2.5 – 3 cm. Price of Rp 200.000 – Rp 300.000 per plant. Once the thorns, the cactus had arrived at Handhi's Tree house Nurseri, in a matter of a week sold by half.
Seeds to the center
' Importing seeds and raising cactus is indeed an opportunity, ' said Dr Ir Arief Daryanto MEc, director of the management and business graduate Program of Bogor Agricultural Institute. That's what Cactus players do in Lembang, West Java. Call it Pami Hernadi, owner Nurseri Venita in Lembang, Bandung, which imports the seeds of desert plants from Europe since the 1970-an. Type Mammillaria, Ferocactus, and Gymnocalycium.
Seeds are soared and raised. At the age of a year of Pascasemai, the adult figure is apparent. Mammillaria is a spherical cactus with a tubercle overgrown with thorns. Ferocactus shaped like a star-belimbing with a number of rib 13 – 22. While the Gymnocalycium Rebenya somewhat rounded. ' Everything belongs to a spiked cactus, ' says Pami. Some continue to be raised and others are attached to the bottom stem of the Hylocereus, Cereus, and the reticles to spur growth.
In Lembang, which imports seeds such as Pami there are 4 – 5 players. ' Because the players are Lembang so the center of Cactus since the 1980-an, ' said Rizal Djaafarer, senior player there. Mammillaria, Ferocactus, and Gymnocalycium are also the ' common ' cactus in the soil. Crop production is no longer relying on seed imports from Europe, but the results of its own reproduction.
Need engineering
These results spread to consumers in Sumatera, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Bali. ' Can every month buy a car, ' said Rizal described the successful Cactus player in Lembang in the 1980's. In the 1990's the players began to bring Ariocarpus and astrophytum from Germany and the Netherlands. The seed price is the same as the ' ordinary ' cactus.
What a thorn Rawa without thorns apparently more fussy. ' The rate of success is only 30 – 50%, ' said Erminus Temmy Putra Pami who now manages Venita nurseries. Growth is also slow. Just an example of Ariocarpus seed origin reaches 1 cm diameter after 3 years of Semai. Mammillaria, Ferocactus, or notocactus? Quite semai benih Bangsa a year it reaches 5 – 8 cm in diameter.
Temmy tries to spur growth by adopting the Japanese planters technology. In 2000, he made a small cone-shaped UV plastic house. Width 2 m, height 1.8 m. Length adjusted to the Bewith. With the small plastic house it was daytime temperatures above 40oC and night less than 20oC. Similar to desert atmosphere. ' With the wide temperature and night difference, triggering the cactus to grow fast, flowering, and produce many saplings, ' said Dr Susiani Purbaningsih DEA, from the Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia.
With Japanese-style technology the growth of Ariocarpus and Astrophytum is more rapidly 2-fold. Unfortunately, that way is not forwarded. ' Our land is too narrow. That way each bewith must be made plastic house, ' says Temy.
The Temmy experience looks like a recorded report in the US Cactus and Succulent Journal. David Tufenkian in California called Ariocarpus and Astrophytum superslow and difficult to grow. So that the growth was boosted, he created the atmosphere of the Chihuahuan Desert in Texas and Mexico in his nursery.
It is interpreted by David by avoiding the media containing vermiculite because the material holds water. It replaces the vermiculite with 75% of the floating stone gravel measuring 1/8 inches or 3 mm. The rest are charcoal and coconut coir. That way Ariocarpus aged 1 year the origin of seeds reaches a size of 2.5 cm. It was three times faster than Temmybefore adopting a Japanese style technique. Astrophytum is much faster, it can be equivalent to ordinary types. By making the desert atmosphere, Andreas Laras in Greece succeeded to the Ariocarpus at the age of 5 – 6 years.
Quick Ludes
Therefore, ' people can plunge into the exclusive cactus business, but with the main capital: hobby, ' said Arief Daryanto. Please mafhum. If selecting a segment that player means to wait 5 – 7 years from seed to ready to sell. This means that money turnover is very slow. Unlike the ' common ' cactus business that can harvest each month so that it rotses rapidly.
However, the real opportunities remain unfolding. Seethe sale of Aries Andi, owner of Sekar Kampoeng Nurseri in Yogyakarta. In early March 2009 he brought in 100 pots of retusus, Fissuratus, Asterias, and Myriostigma. In a matter of 3 days 69 the pot flew to Makassar with a total value of Rp100-million. The rest is absorbed hobbyists in Surabaya.
At the end of March, he brought a similar type of 50 pots. All goods are exhausted at the exhibition in Surabaya with total sales of Rp45-million. Handry Chuhairy sales records, more astounding. Throughout April 2009 he sold 300 exclusive cactus pots worth Rp600-million to 3 collector people in Jabodetabek.
' From an economic standpoint, there is a bandwagon effect and a snob effect. In Indonesia both influential in boosting the price of exclusive commodities, ' said Arief Daryanto. Its called the first high demand product because it isbeing popular. Moderate the second high demand because it is completely exclusive, expensive, and could improve the owner's status.
That is, the player who is terroring the business like that must choose a product that is completely exclusive and should try to be a trend setter. It's obviously hard and takes a long time, so it must be a hobby. The Uncle Chorn Nurseri in Thailand is consistently involved in ordinary and exclusive cactus business since 40 years ago. Now they are flooded with orders because the euphoria collected the exclusive cactus in Japan spread to countries in Asia, including Indonesia. ' That's the name Contageous effect alias to transmit a trend from one area to another, ' said Arief.
Arief even included an exclusive cactus as a ostentation item. That is, there is a high demand tendency when the price is also high. Conversely if low prices consumers do not want the product.
This is the opinion of Dr. Ir Ratya Anindita MS, economics expert of the Department of Social Economic Agriculture, Brawijaya University, Malang. ' The exclusive Cactus price becomes high because of the combination of 2 circumstances: moderate and limited quantities, ' he said. The opportunity to develop persists throughout much fewer suppliers than demand. It just needs to be considered between production costs developing compared to imports from other countries. ' Choose the least amount of risks, ' added Ratya.
Mass Cactus planting
Then how is the market? Rizal Djaafarer called a mass cactus business as a commodity like orchids. ' There are always requests and unaffected trends, ' he said. It mentions every month since 1990-an out of 150,000 mass cactus pots to different regions outside Java. Call it Medan, Bukittinggi, Pekanbaru, Lampung, Pontianak, Balikpapan, Samarinda, Manado, Bali, and Lombok.
Anyway, although the request set still there are opportunities for new players to enter. Erik Aryanto, student of biology department, Universitas Padjadjaran, plunged into Cactus business 4 years ago. The young man living in Lembang opened the market of Mammillaria, Echinopsis, and Echinocactus through his personal blog since 2005 he sold 3,000 – 4,000 cactus pots per month to Batam, Medan, and Jayapura.
Pramana Abdul Gani in Cimanggis, Depok, began to pursue the business of Cactus in 2006. When it sold 2,000 pots per month. Price Rp 5.000 – Rp 10,000 per pot. At 2008, the volume rises to 5,000 pots per month. It did not include sales on the Grand exhibition of Flora and Fauna 2008 worth of Rp200-million. Now the sale is 8,000 – 10,000 pots per month.
So as Arief said, Cactus's development opportunities remain open throughout the cultivation character and his business is studied. That's exactly what the cactus development pioneers did in Lembang by importing cactus seeds from European countries. Because from seeds later so millions of rupiah. (Destika Cahyana/Peliput: Faiz Yazri, Imam Wiguna, Nesia Artdiyasa, Rosy Nur Apriyanti, and Tri Susanti)