Gardening Trends during Pandemic, TaniHub Helps to Sell the Harvests

Gardening in the yard of the house is becoming a trend in the middle of the corona pandemic. In addition to being a hobby, residents can market their results through the TaniHub platform and even get funding. Urban farming in urban areas was in great demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, because residents were more active at home.

Moreover, the government estimates that three million workers have been laid off or even laid off due to the pandemic. The urban farming trend can be seen from several artists who started gardening. Two of them are comedians Sunarji or Narji and musician Mario Marcella (Cella) Box.

Gardening is one way to earn extra income. The agricultural technology startup (agritech) TaniHub also provides access to marketing and funding for farmers, including those just starting this business.

“With urban farming, we are very open. You can visit our website or email, the process is easy, including financing,” TaniHub CEO Ivan Arie Sutiawan said while attending the Katadata Webinar “Covid-19: Disruptor or Startup Business Enabler? “, Friday (6/19).

Food Cultivation Becomes Additional Income for the Community

TaniHub is a marketplace that markets agricultural products to individual and corporate consumers. Under the Tani Group, there is TaniFund or a financial technology finance company (fintech lending) specifically for the agricultural sector.

“Many people affected by layoffs are then confused looking for another job. Cultivation of food can be an option,” Ivan said. He hoped that the community could obtain additional income by utilizing the TaniHub and TaniFund platforms.

“The more players, the bigger the cake. The market is also increasing,” he said. At present, more than 30 thousand farmers join the TaniHub ecosystem. The TaniHub platform connects farmers with more than five thousand business customers, ranging from SMEs, hotels, restaurants, and catering.

Agricultural products that are sold vary, ranging from vegetables, fruit, and others. The company noted sales surged during the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, sales of herbal plants increased by 20%. The number of users also increased by 20 thousand during the pandemic, to 115 thousand people today.

Overall, transactions at TaniHub have tripled every year. Whereas TaniFund has distributed loans of more than Rp 100 billion to farmers.

Transaction Increases during Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic or coronavirus has a negative impact on business and economic activities in Indonesia. As a result, many companies must experience a very sharp turnover decline, resulting in laying off to terminate the employment relationship (FLE).

But not all industries are affected by COVID-19. The online food product business through e-commerce applications is one that receives blessings during the coronavirus pandemic, especially when the government recommends employees work from home or Work From Home (WFH) to implement Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) to slow the spread of the COVID outbreak -19.

Residents in big cities like Jabodetabek, Bandung to Surabaya choose to order food needs via the application without having to leave the house and without the need to interact with other people. TaniHub Group is one of the agricultural e-commerce that has felt a positive impact.

Ivan claimed sales at TaniHub for the retail or business to customer segment shot up to 300 percent during the pandemic. The biggest increase came from Jabodetabek area or the initial area of ​​work from the home policy implemented.

Besides Jabodetabek, the increase in sales to new consumers also occurred in the cities of Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and Denpasar. The number of new users or customers has also increased by 100 percent, while the business to business market segment serving wholesale scale such as restaurants to hotels has decreased.

TaniHub Group through TaniSupply also runs a rigorous and standardized business process from upstream in the farmers, to entering the warehouse and sending it to consumers.