IO – Indonesians have become more and more aware of the environment every day. We start to adopt environmentally-friendly lifestyle, starting from things like reducing the use of plastic or starting to garden in our yard. To commemorate the One Million Trees Day on 10 January, Lazada Indonesia (“Lazada”) digital marketplace expresses its appreciation for its tenant sellers who support customers’ effort to go back to nature through urban farming and gardening. One of these important sellers in the Lazada ecosystem is I Dewa Gede Agung “Dewa” Wiradipta, the pioneering founder of the Indonesian Farming (“Infarm”) online gardening supplies and tools business (including seeds and seedlings).
An urbanite living in Surabaya, Dewa nevertheless feels a sense of responsibility for nature and his surrounding environment. Therefore, he uses Infarm to invite and encourage people to use their yards to plant. Infarm provides various types of seeds and urban farming supplies and equipment, as his effort to help preserve nature from the smallest environs available. “We live by hanging on to nature, while nature survives perfectly without us. Therefore, I believe that what humans do must in the end return to nature,” he said.
Ideally, 30%-40% of any urban area’s territory is green open spaces. However, most of our cities are actually deficit in these very spaces. This is why Dewa is committed to use Infarm to encourage people to garden and plant in their own yards. He believes that no matter how small, any effort to preserve the Earth will generate a positive impact over the long term. With this spirit, Dewa dedicates Infarm into becoming a business with the added value of allowing people to work on nature and benefit themselves, as well as the Earth, at the same time.
As the pandemic hit and spread throughout 2020, more and more people improved their home outdoor space, meaning that the sales of seeds and gardening equipment and supplies increased. As the people’s interest in gardening and planting increased, Lazada facilitated the establishment and development of such sellers, including Infarm, to help the common people do their part in preserving nature.
Everybody Can Plant
Before opening his gardening supply and equipment business in Lazada, Dewa was a corn and rice farmer based in Puntir Village, Pasuruan. Based on his interest and passion in agriculture, he attempted to develop his own agricultural business, including growing and harvesting his own crops and producing his own compost. However, passion alone is never enough. Dewa decided to find an alternative to agribusiness.
He decided to open an online business by selling jewelry. It went quite well, but he felt that he was not working according to his passion for plants and natural preservation. He went back to exploring possibilities on what to sell that will resonate with his dream of developing an agribusiness. When he found out about hydroponics, Dewa decided to establish a hydroponic farm and sell the crops that he grew using that method. This business was a flop, and so he needed to try again.
Dewa suddenly remembered the increase of general interest in planting right before the start of the pandemic. This brought him the new hope that he might sell gardening or planting packages for home use…and the idea for Infarm. Infarm’s very existence is based on two ideas: “humans need to live harmoniously with nature” and “people like to get in on the latest trend, including urban farming”. Therefore, he started to sell seed packages online under the tagline “Everybody Can Plant” to encourage people to try planting at home. Dewa believes that having plants at home will bring in nature right to people’s doorstep. This will provide peace from the bustling, cramped life of the city, as well as a small source of joy right at home.
Soon enough, he decided to expand his business by setting up. shop at Lazada. Here, Infarm increased sales from 1-2 orders a day to 200. Orders would even skyrocket 3-5 fold during Lazada promo events such as the National Online Shopping Day (Hari Belanja Online National – “Harbolnas”). Infarm’s sales growth was so fast that Dewa could afford to hire employees. He is now assisted by 20 people. This is of course due to Infarm’s consistent effort at innovating, providing quality products, and improving services. Dewa even went as far as to create an online Infarm community as a forum to share tips and knowledge about the environment and plant care at home.
Lazada Indonesia SVP for Sellers Operations Haikal Bekti Anggoro declared, “As urban dwellers, a lot of people actually have a secret yearning and deep desire to go back to nature. One of the trends that we notice in Lazada is that more and more plant lovers are buying seeds and gardening equipment and supplies via e-commerce. We hope that by hosting shops like Infarm, Lazada can help encourage the circulation of green economy, help customers create their own green spaces, support their gardening hobbies, or even open their own businesses with a mission similar to Infarm’s.”
Dewa admitted to a great sense of satisfaction when his buyers give positive testimonies in Lazada, and tell him about their experiences growing things at home in the Infarm community forum. “Many of my buyers now have their own gardens and even harvest crops thanks to the seeds, supplies, and equipment that we provide for them in Infarm,” he said happily. “Like I said, I believe that everything people do must get back to nature, including by taking nature home with us. In line with Infarm’s slogan “Everybody Can Plant”, people can now get seeds, gardening supplies, and gardening equipment in e-commerce platform s like Lazada. So I invite them to join the Infarm to exchange knowledge with each other. I hope to continue my gardening research and education through Infarm, to strengthen the community by encouraging people to love nature and the surrounding environment by starting small – such as planting something at home.”