Jokowi Agrees To Subsidized Fertilizer Budget Plus IDR 14 Trillion

Illustration of subsidized fertilizers (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) approved the addition of a budget for subsidized fertilizer stocks through PT Pupuk Indonesia worth IDR 14 trillion.

President Director of Pupuk Indonesia Rahmad Pribadi revealed that the stock of subsidized fertilizers, which was previously only 4.7 million tons, will be increased to 7.5 million tons.

"The 4.7 million tons of fertilizer that has been approved, the direction was to take it in the first planting season so that later when it is finished, the budget for the second planting season will be prepared again. God willing, if the fertilizer is smooth, production will run smoothly, rice production will also increase," said Rahmad in his statement, Tuesday, February 14.

The additional volume of fertilizer worth Rp. 14 trillion, said Rahmad, increased the subsidized fertilizer budget, which was initially only Rp. 26 trillion, bringing the total to Rp. 40 trillion.

Nevertheless, Rahmad admitted, the additional Rp 14 trillion budget has not been disbursed to PT Pupuk Indonesia because it is still in process.

Even so, while waiting for the process, PT Pupuk Indonesia continues to distribute it to farmers as much as possible.

"In the past, for example, there was an allocation of a total of millions of tons divided into two planting seasons, now those that have been approved can be taken in the first planting season to accelerate planting in the first planting season," explained Rahmad.

Meanwhile, Jokowi also directed PT Pupuk Indonesia to immediately distribute fertilizer as an effort to overcome the scarcity of rice.

Rahmad said that he was preparing 2 juto tons of fertilizer stock. A total of 1.1 million tons of fertilizer are ready to be distributed to the community.

"So for fertilizer, according to the direction of the president. This is to overcome rice difficulties, in the form of increasing production. One of the main factors is fertilizer. Therefore, we have prepared a fertilizer stock of 2 million tons. Of the 2 million tons, 1.1 million tons are already in the districts, so they are ready to be distributed," he explained.