HANDICRAFTS popularised by the adventurous tourists of yesteryear have become a US$2.5-billion-a-year export industry for Indonesia.
At least 250 cottage industries are exporting and the boom has created hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Much of the credit for the growth of this industry lies with the National Agency for Export Development (NAFED), founded in 1971 to encourage the handicraft industry to expand its markets and reduce the nation's dependence on oil export earnings.
NAFED chairman Rudy Lengkong said: 'To create more jobs, the government made the development of exports of handicrafts and small-scale industrial products a priority.
'Handicrafts are important because the industry involves a large number of enterprises employing thousands of workers and craftsmen.' When the agency was founded, handicraft exports stood at US$100,000.
But, by 1993, overseas sales generated US$2.5 billion.
