Page 85 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

Between 1989 and 1993, overall jamu production rose by almost 159 per
cent, while total jamu sales shot up by a healthy 63 per cent. Exports showed a
less impressive increase of 32 per cent, only because by the time the home
market had taken its pick, there was not much left to export. Nyonya Meneer’s
factory more than doubled its output during this time, but this was still not
enough to meet demand. Since that period, it has been difficult to obtain
statistics, but jamu sales seem to have stabilized: with recent economic troubles
at home, people have less money to spend on Western medicines, and often
revert to traditional formulae.

To meet the challenge, entrepreneurs are racing to modernize factories and
set up new plantations. A recent Ministry of Health survey on the medicinal herb
industry estimated it would soon need 8,000 tonnes of herbs a year to meet the
demand for herbal medicine. But, even Indonesia’s fertile land will not make
plants and trees shoot up overnight, and the country’s medicinal plant experts are
currently looking at the production problem, trying to determine ideal growing
conditions and to improve efficiency. Handled correctly, plants often respond
positively and this might prove the answer to yet another hurdle in the expansion
of the industry.