Minister Of Agriculture Urges Farmers To Immediately Boil Subsidized Fertilizers

Illustration - Pupuk type NPK. (Between/HO-Humas Kementan)

JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Andi Amran Sulaiman appealed to farmers who are entitled to subsidized fertilizer allocations to immediately redeem quotas that can be obtained so that they can maximize the acceleration of planting and rice production.

"Alhamdulillah, the addition of subsidized fertilizer allocation has been determined, so farmers can immediately use this subsidized fertilizer to accelerate planting and production. This is so that the next planting season all quotas are fully absorbed and the planting process is not hampered," Amran said in a statement quoted by Antara in Jakarta, Sunday.

The Minister of Agriculture said that the addition of subsidized fertilizer from 4.7 million tons to 9.5 million tons, an increase of 100 percent, had received approval from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"And now the addition of fertilizer has begun to be distributed and its redeemation is also easier, by using a farmer card or using only an ID card," said Minister of Agriculture Amran.

He said, based on data as of April 30, 2024, the realization of subsidized fertilizers currently reaches 18.12 percent of the total allocation of 9,550,000 tons. From the realization of not much distribution, Amran hopes that farmers will immediately redeem fertilizers.

"There is still a quota of more than 50 percent of the total allocation. Immediately cane the available fertilizer, so that there will be no more rare fertilizer stories this year," said Minister of Agriculture Amran.

Amran said, Permentan Number 01 of 2024 as a revision of Permentan Number 10 of 2022 concerning Procedures for Determination of Subsidized Pupuk Allocation and HETs aimed at improving subsidized fertilizer management and increasing agricultural production results, in order to reduce the impact of El Nino which led to imports of agricultural products.

"Well, in the future, how can we suppress imports next year, because now our imports are 3.5 million (rice) it can go up again, if we don't press it from now on," he said.

As for the farmer's requirements to redeem subsidized fertilizers, namely, farmers must join the Poktan and be registered in the e-RDKK sourced from SIMLUHTAN.

"Make sure farmers are registered in e-RDKK. The allocation of subsidized fertilizers is detailed based on the type of fertilizer, amount of fertilizer, and distribution of the region. Considerations on the determination of allocations : e-RDKK and details of allocations per region taking into account the raw area of rice fields and LP2B," he said.

Meanwhile, Director General of Agricultural Infrastructure and Facilities (PSP) Ali Jamil added that currently his party is intensively socializing Permentan No. 01/2024.

He ensured that the allocation of subsidized fertilizers was still large for this year. In addition, in Permentan 01 of 2024, an additional type of organic subsidized fertilizer was also determined.

"The second and next planting season ensures that the fertilizer is safe. So that it can be accelerated planting and production because the government has prepared subsidized fertilizers according to their allocation. And now there are also types of organic fertilizers," said Ali.

Currently, the highest absorption at the provincial level is 29.47 percent in Riau Province. Ali Jamil appealed to other provinces to also increase the absorption of subsidized fertilizer allocations.

"This is good news, news for all Indonesian farmers. Farmers don't need to worry anymore, worry about fertilizers. Local governments are expected to be proactive in socializing this," he said.