Tegal City Government And Inaplas To Increase Rice Production With Liquid Fertilizer From Organic Waste

JAKARTA - The Tegal City Government together with the Indonesian Olefins, Aromatic and Plastics Industry Association (INAPLAS) supported by PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk, have successfully tested the use of liquid fertilizers for rice plants at a demonstration plot facilitated by the Department of Marine, Fisheries, Agriculture and Food (DKP3) City of Tegal.

The demonstration plot, which consists of 2 parts, each produces 11.7 tonnes of unhulled rice per hectare and 10.5 tonnes of unhulled rice per hectare, an increase from the average yield in Tegal City of 6-7 tonnes per hectare.

This trial by both parties is part of an effort to implement a circular economy in Tegal City where waste management is directed to achieve zero waste. Non-organic waste such as plastics, aluminum, metals, glass and others are directed to be recycled while organic waste is made into liquid fertilizer through a fermentation process.

The rest that cannot be processed and has low economic value is used as fuel briquettes with predatory machines. If this integrated waste management runs completely, then the sending of waste to the final disposal site can be avoided.

In this collaboration, Inaplas provides Inpari 41 rice seeds, liquid organic fertilizer, NPK grower and counseling on the use of fertilizers as well as regular inspection of soil and plant conditions for a 10,000 m2 demonstration plot facilitated by the Head of Agriculture and Food, DKP3 City of Tegal.

When harvesting at the demonstration plot location on March 23, 2021, Yusmana as the Head of the Agriculture and Food Sector of the DKP3 City of Tegal expressed his gratitude for collaborating with Inaplas on the experimental use of liquid organic fertilizer and was satisfied with the rice yields that exceeded the average productivity of rice fields per year. hectares in Tegal City.

"I hope this cooperation can be increased and expanded so that it can increase the productivity of rice plants in Tegal City and the circular economy that starts with production, consumption and recycling can be achieved," said Yusmana in a statement received, Monday, April 5.

In the future, it is hoped that Tegal City and all stakeholders can create a clean Tegal City with good waste management and become an example for other regions.

The general chairman of Inaplas Suhat Miyarso expressed his gratitude to the Tegal City Government for collaborating and facilitating the trial of using liquid fertilizers from organic waste for rice cultivation in Tegal City. Inaplas assesses that the Tegal City Government is very serious in seeking to improve waste management, thus encouraging Inaplas to carry out beneficial collaborations for waste management in Indonesia.

"We welcome this cooperation. Previously, Inaplas has collaborated with the City Government of Tegal through the deployment of plastic asphalt in the Tegal City pavilion which has gone well. Hopefully this can continue to run well," said Suhat.

The Director of Inter-Institutional Cooperation, Budi Susanto, said that based on the calculation of rice yields witnessed by the Head of the Agriculture and Food Sector of the DKP3 City of Tegal, Yusmana, the yields were higher than the average yields of the City of Tegal.

This result was achieved thanks to good cooperation with the implementers in the field accompanied by regular counseling and monitoring of soil and plant conditions. With this experiment it has been proven that the use of organic liquid fertilizers on rice plants works well and can reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and reduce production costs.

"Thus, the more important thing is that the circular economy can be realized. All the waste generated from everyday human activities can be reused and returned to become new products," said Budi Susanto.

In the circular economy concept, plastic waste can be further utilized through recycling, used as fuel oil through pyrolysis or low value as RDF or fuel briquettes. All of these transformations have been proven to be carried out in various capacities as needed.