NTB Gets Additional Subsidized Fertilizer Allocation From The Ministry Of Agriculture

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) has increased the allocation of subsidized fertilizers for farmers in the West Nusa Tenggara region.

"The government has set an allocation of 433,606 tons or an increase of 214,156 tons from the previous allocation of 219,450 tons," said SVP of PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) Customer Sales and Services Strategy, Deni Dwiguna Sulaeman in a written statement, quoted from Antara, Saturday, May 18.

The total details of the allocation consist of urea of 222,405 tons or an increase from the previous 130,115 tons, NPK of 190,653 tons or an increase from the previous 89,182 tons, NPK Special Formula of 1,059 tons or an increase from the previous 153 tons, and organic fertilizers of 19,489 tons.

Furthermore, Deni conveyed that Pupuk Indonesia is currently carrying out subsidized fertilizer policy socialization activities in accordance with Permentan Number 01 of 2024 and Kepmentan Number 249 of 2024 to farmers, kiosks owners, distributors, and the agriculture office.

In this regulation, the government has set the allocation of fertilizer subsidies to 9.55 million tons. The allocation of subsidies is aimed at four types, namely Urea, NPK, Special Formula NPK, and most recently organic fertilizers.

"The government has decided to increase the volume of subsidized fertilizers in the 2024 fiscal year from 4.7 million tons to 9.55 million tons," he said.

The addition of allocations to these four types of fertilizers is set at 4,634,626 tons for Urea, 4,278,504 tons for NPK, 136,870 tons for Special Formula NPK, and 500,000 tons for organic fertilizer.

The addition of this allocation coincides with the implementation of subsidized fertilizer redeemation which is easier for farmers to register in the Definitive Group Needs Plan (RDKK), which is enough with an identity card (KTP).

Deni stated that the redeeming of subsidized fertilizers for registered farmers was carried out through the i-Pubers (Subsidized Fertilizer Integration) application which has been implemented in around 27,000 official kiosks throughout Indonesia, including West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

"We hope that farmers can redeem subsidized fertilizers easily using their ID cards. kiosk officers will swiftly assist and oversee the process of redeeming subsidized fertilizers, which then can be used by farmers who are entitled to comply with the provisions. i-Pubers are the leading solution to ensure the accuracy of the distribution of fertilizers. This digital innovation is not only efficient, but also helps us direct subsidized fertilizers on target," said Deni.

The i-Pubers application is an innovation from the collaboration between Pupuk Indonesia and the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan). This application is intended to make it easier for farmers in the process of redeeming subsidized fertilizers by applying integrated data in distributor partners (kios) between the list of recipients of e-allocation subsidies and fertilizer stock data in Pupuk Indonesia.

Starting as of February 1, 2024, the implementation of i-Pubers has reached 100 percent nationally and is available at more than 27,000 kiosks throughout Indonesia.

The implementation of the i-Pubers application is one of the steps forward in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers in Indonesia.

The i-Pubers application is expected to help farmers get subsidized fertilizers more easily and efficiently.

"So, this volume addition policy needs to be widely and massively socialized so that registered farmers can find out and receive the benefits, besides that in the implementation of the distribution and distribution process, the additional volume of subsidized fertilizer allocation must be monitored properly," he said.

In order to ensure the smooth distribution of subsidized fertilizers in NTB, Pupuk Indonesia has prepared a number of supporting facilities, namely 32 warehouses consisting of 1 pocketing unit and 31 Lini III warehouses, then 34 distributors with 1,603 kiosk/cer networks, and supported by 17 field officers to ensure that all farmers who are entitled to subsidized fertilizers are in accordance with regulations.

In line with the stipulation of the Permentan policy Number 01 of 2024 and the Ministry of Agriculture Number 249 of 2024, Pupuk Indonesia ensures the availability of stock in all lines to support this policy.

As of May 16, 2024, the national subsidized fertilizer stock is currently recorded at 2.09 million tons or reaches 210 percent of the minimum stipulated by the Government. Meanwhile, the available stock in the NTB area was recorded at 67,759 tons or reached 190 percent of the minimum stock provision.

Meanwhile, in terms of distribution, until May 16, 2024, Pupuk Indonesia has succeeded in distributing 2.09 million tons of subsidized fertilizer, equivalent to 21.9 percent of the total fertilizer subsidy allocation of 9.55 million tons nationally.

As for the details for urea fertilizers of 1.21 million tons and NPK of 873,553 tons, Special Formula NPK of 5,101 tons. Meanwhile, for the NTB area, 106,565 tons have been distributed until May 16, 2024, consisting of 67,520 tons of urea, 38,945 tons of NPK, and 100 tons of Special Formula NPK.

Meanwhile, the addition of subsidized fertilizer allocations can be utilized by registered farmers or farmers who meet the criteria according to Permentan Number 01 of 2024, namely joining the Farmers Group and being registered in the electronic plan for determining group needs (e-RDKK).

This subsidized fertilizer is given to 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 sugar cane, 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, Electronic Plans for Definitive Group Needs (e-RDKK) can be evaluated every 4 (four) months of the running year. In other words, farmers who have not received an allocation can collect data on the registration process during the evaluation process in the current year.

It can be seen that the socialization of subsidized fertilizer policies in 2024 is a collaboration between Pupuk Indonesia, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture and Plantation of NTB, the Ombudsman, and the National Police Corruption Prevention Task Force.