Kalbe Farma Socializes Red Ginger Ecosystem Movement to Improve Farmer Wellbeing

Reporting from TerasMalioboroNews.com, If Korea is famous for Ginseng, then Indonesia has Red Ginger which has extraordinary benefits.

Red ginger is Indonesian herb with benefits and source of well-being for the wider community.

Currently, many people understand the benefits of red ginger for both body health and medication.

Related to this, PT Kalbe Farma Tbk (Kalbe) conducted a socialization of Negeri Jahe Merah movement. The activity is carried out through the Bintang Toedjoe Natural Innovation (BINA) Business Unit.

BINA is a B2B division of Bintang Toedjoe that focuses on natural raw materials, to support the sustainability and availability of the best red ginger.

“Kalbe always considers sustainability in carrying out the company's operations, especially the positive impact on the environment, society, and all relevant stakeholders. This is in order to achieve the goal of Kalbe's sustainability initiative, namely Bersama Sehatkan Bangsa," said PT Kalbe Farma Tbk's Head of External Communication, Hari Nugroho.

This was said by Hari during a field visit to one of the red ginger fields in Boyolali, Central Java, Tuesday, August 9, 2022.

Hari said that the red ginger ecosystem built by Bintang Toedjoe's subsidiary is one of the company's efforts to support the medicinal raw materials in Indonesia, especially herbs.

"This red ginger ecosystem has seven process pillars, namely red ginger seeding, red ginger planting, post-harvest, extraction or distillation, pharmacology, commercialization, and community development," said Head of BU BINA (Business Unit Bintang Toedjoe Innovation Natural), Sari Pramadiyanti.

Sari explained that in the red ginger seedling process, BINA collaborated with BRIN, PT Inagro and the University of Surabaya to produce standardized red ginger seeds. BINA continues to develop red ginger tissue culture research to produce genetically consistent seeds.

In the process of planting red ginger, BINA collaborates with red ginger farming communities, including one in Boyolali. BINA collects data, educates, monitors and controls harvest age to obtain red ginger rhizomes that are standardized and recorded.

The red ginger, which is ready to be harvested, will be sent to the harvest center in collaboration with the local government. The red ginger is then sorted, washed, cut, dried and packaged so that it is ready for consumption or further processing.

The red ginger extraction process collaborates with experienced and qualified extractor or distillator partners to produce standardized red ginger extract and essential oil.

The red ginger extract or essential oil produced must be controlled so that it produces the active substances gingerol and zingiberene according to specifications, which will later be processed by the company into Redgine products.

Research and pharmacological studies, making red ginger raw material Redgine has a strong scientific basis in terms of efficacy tests, safety tests, toxicity tests, and tests as immunomodulators.

In conducting this test, BINA collaborated with BRIN, ITB, Ubaya, and KyungHee University Korea.

Then, the raw material of Redgine red ginger produced is marketed to the pharmaceutical, herbal, food, cosmetic, supplement, and nutraceutical industries. The types of products in the form of simplicia powder, extract powder, extract liquid and oil, are adapted to industrial needs.

This program is supported by the Surakarta Seed Supervision and Certification Center (BPSB). Representatives of Bintang Toedjoe's partner farmers also shared their experiences before and after partnering with Bintang Toedjoe.

“We from BPSB support farmer groups who want to develop red ginger. BPSB accompanying from the planting process to become the seeds. We make sure the seeds produced by the farmer groups meet the expectations of other farmers," said the Plant Seed Supervisor (PBT) of BPSB Surakarta, Mardi Satata.

“Before, I planted 3000 meters of red ginger. After joining Bintang Toedjoe's partner, I can plant more, with a more certain price, and better quality ginger. Usually, 1 kg of red ginger seeds can produce 3 kg of red ginger. But after joining as Bintang Toedjoe's partner, 1 kg of seed can harvest 5-8 kilograms," said Eko Susilo as one of Bintang Toedjoe's partner farmers.

Currently, the Redgine variant consists of various products, which are red ginger extract premium powder, red ginger extract standardized powder, red ginger powder, instant red ginger powder with palm sugar, fresh red ginger, red ginger simplicia, red ginger oil, red ginger liquid extract standardized.

In addition, it is also used for Bintang Toedjoe products, namely BEJO Red Ginger, Bejo Sujamer, Herbal Komix, Ginger Herbal Komix, Lime Herbal Komix, Kids Herbal Komix, and Peppermint Herbal Komix.

“Anyone can become Bintang Toedjoe's partner farmer. The condition is that prospective partners must fill out a personal data form through the online red ginger ecosystem, or by visiting the website www.negerijahemerah.co.id," said Sari.