Pupuk Indonesia Ensures Availability Of Fertilizer On The Outermost Island Of The Republic Of Indonesia

JAKARTA - BUMN PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) has stated its commitment to ensure the availability of subsidized fertilizers on Indonesia's outer islands.

"Today we are starting to visit the outer islands in Indonesia to ensure that the distribution of subsidized fertilizers here runs smoothly and on target so that it can support national food security," said Pupuk Indonesia President Director Rahmad Pribadi while visiting the Rote Islands, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), quoted from Antara, Tuesday 14 May.

In addition to Rote Island, Rahmad also checks kiosks and warehouses, and meets food leaders and farmers on Flores Island and Timor Island from May 12 to 15, 2024. This blusukan activity is to ensure the readiness of subsidized fertilizer stocks, see agricultural potential, and explore aspirations to increase the distribution capacity of fertilizers on these islands.

The government has increased the allocation of subsidized fertilizers to 9.55 million tons for 2024 to increase agricultural productivity.

To optimize agriculture in NTT, Pupuk Indonesia has prepared a subsidized fertilizer stock of 17,255 tons. The stock as of May 8, 2024 consists of 10,237 tons of urea fertilizer and 7,018 tons of NPK.

Each stock of fertilizer is safe to meet the needs of farmers in NTT for the next two weeks. Urea stock which is currently in line II or provincial warehouses, and districts/cities or lines III reaches 284 percent or almost three times the minimum requirement required by the government, which is 3,602 tons. Meanwhile, the stock of NPK that has been prepared by Pupuk Indonesia also reaches 195 percent of the minimum provision, which is 3,583 tons.

"We in NTT also visited warehouses, met with distributors and kiosks in order to see the company's readiness to provide subsidized fertilizer stocks. Thank God our stock is sufficient to meet the allocation of subsidized fertilizers for farmers in NTT for the next 14 days," said Rahmad.

The allocation of subsidized urea fertilizer in NTT reached 62,228 tons, and the realization of redeemation that had been carried out by farmers until May 2024 was only 10,378 tons, or about 17 percent. For the subsidized NPK allocation, the Government prepared 70,244 tons and the realization was around 9,828 tons or 14 percent. In NTT, the Government also allocates NPK Kakao with a total of 659 tons.

The allocation has received an addition from the Government from the initial allocation, namely Urea for 2024 in NTT previously only 36,408 tons, NPK 32,858 tons, NPK Kakao 95 tons. Therefore, Rahmad hopes that farmers will optimize the redeemation of subsidized fertilizers to maintain local food security.

Meanwhile, to ensure the smooth distribution of subsidized fertilizers in 22 regencies/cities in NTT, Pupuk Indonesia has also prepared a number of supporting facilities, namely 24 Lini III warehouses, 11 distributors, 391 kiosks and 13 field officers who will ensure that all farmers who are entitled to subsidized fertilizers are in accordance with regulations.

Rahmad explained that supervision of the distribution of subsidized fertilizers must be tightened because there are provisions to be able to obtain subsidized fertilizers according to Permentan Number 01 of 2024. This provision, among others, is incorporated in farmer groups and is registered in the electronics for the definitive group needs (e-RDKK). This subsidized fertilizer is intended for farmers who make farming businesses for food crop sub-sectors such as rice, corn, and soybeans, as well as sub-sectors for horticultural crops such as chilies, shallots, and garlic, and sub-sectors for plantations such as sugarcane. people, cocoa, and coffee.

Of these types of farming businesses, it is determined that the criteria for the area of land that is pursued are a maximum of 2 hectares, including farmers who are members of the Forest Village Community Institution (LMDH), in accordance with the provisions of the legislation.

In this new regulation, e-RDKK can be evaluated every four months of the running year. In other words, farmers who have not received an allocation can input the registration process during the evaluation process in the current year.

"For farmers who are not registered as recipients of subsidized fertilizers, Pupuk Indonesia has also prepared solutions through non-subsidized fertilizers which can also be obtained in kiosks," said Rahmad.