Indonesia is a tropical country that has various natural resources due to good climatic factors that can produce various natural resources, one of which is in the agricultural sector. This has resulted in the agricultural sector in Indonesia being one of the important sectors that contribute to increasing Indonesia’s Gross Domestic Product. Based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics Indonesia explained that in 2019, the Indonesian agricultural sector was in the third place that contributed to improving the economy after the manufacturing sector and wholesale and retail trade as much as 19.70%, and car and motorcycle repairs at 13.10 % and the sub-sector that has great potential in contributing to Indonesia’s Gross Domestic Product is the plantation sector, which is safe (Badan Pusat Statistik Indonesia, nd, #). One of Indonesia’s plantation products that have many benefits as a raw material for making various Indonesian needs is tea.
Tea is one of the plantation products that can be used as raw material for making beverages, vitamins, to skin and hair care. With the many benefits of tea, this can be an opportunity for Indonesia to maximize its wealth to increase tea production which can be used as raw material for making people’s daily needs. Monday, February 21, 2021, reported by IDX Indonesia explained that Indonesian plantations through PT Perkebunan Nusantara VIII, which is the largest and largest tea plantation company in Indonesia, exported the first teabags to Canada, namely Archipelago Marketplace Inc. worth over $36,000. The tea that is exported is a tea that has the Walini brand where Walini tea is exported as many as 1,070 master cartons or one container and this Walini tea export has a value of USD 36,569.90 with four premium Walini tea variants including black tea bags, green tea, lemon tea, and jasmine tea (Sarasa, 2022, #). Not only the variants mentioned above, but this Walini tea also has other flavor variants such as apple, lemon, lychee, ginger, blackcurrant, mint, and earl gray flavors.
This shows the many variants produced from this walini tea, it shows that Indonesia, which has a tropical climate, can be necessary to become a superior product because Indonesian tea can provide a distinctive taste, color, and aroma with the existence of these tea variants. in great demand by customers in the world market. In addition, the development of a global trend in which people often enjoy drinks with new variants and based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, it is explained that world tea consumption grows an average of 4.5% per year, this can be a potential for Indonesia to continue to promote its locally owned products in the international market. Indonesia’s tea export activities are often unstable.
This is due to a decrease in production capacity that a reduced supply of Indonesian tea and a decrease in the area of ​​Indonesian tea plantations (Indonesian Central Statistics Agency, n.d., #). This can hamper Indonesian tea production and Indonesia’s tea exports will also be competitive with other countries. Therefore, the existence of Walini tea export activities that are exported to Canada, has shown that Indonesian tea is still a tea that is in great demand by many people, especially the international community. This is an achievement that needs to be maintained and continuously promoted to various countries through Indonesian tea variants. The existence of premium Indonesian tea variants that are promoted to foreign countries, can be Indonesia’s strategy to improve the branding quality of Indonesian products to the international community. In addition, to introduce Indonesian local tea products, export activities are not enough. Because the international community never knows and feels the enjoyment of Indonesian tea, this will be one of the inhibiting factors for export activities. Because Indonesia needs to introduce its tea first to the international community by providing opportunities for the international community to taste Indonesian tea. After that, if the international community has tasted the Indonesian tea, this will increase demand for Indonesian tea because the international community already knows the taste and aroma of Indonesian tea.
Therefore, Indonesia is important for Indonesia to form a strategy in advance to increase the attractiveness of Indonesian tea. This strategy can be carried out in various ways by promoting Indonesian tea to foreign countries through exhibitions, international expos, and other international events that interact with the international community by providing a cup of tea to enjoy. This strategy will not only introduce Indonesian products through tea, but with people-to-people interactions, this can improve the good image of Indonesia which can help the role of the state as well as in cooperation between countries. With the emergence of good perception of a country, this can become second-track diplomacy which is diplomacy carried out by non-state actors or the public in interacting with the international community in spreading the good image of a country. This strategy can help the role of the state to launch cooperation between countries. Because if a good image of a country has been formed, this will result in cooperation and negotiations between countries being achieved.
Increasing various new variants of Indonesian products, especially tea, can be Indonesia’s strategy to promote the superiority of its plantation products. Indonesia is a country that is rich in natural wealth from plantation products, therefore Indonesia must maximize the opportunities that exist to take advantage of the results of natural wealth by promoting and producing various new variants of tea and creating its characteristics that can characterize which products from Indonesia. This can be a strategy to introduce Indonesian local products to the international community to improve the quality of Indonesian products, one of which is to increase Indonesian local tea production by having its characteristics and variants that can become a symbol of a country.
