Pupuk Indonesia Tegaskan Akan Tetap Melakukan Penyaluran Pupuk Bersubsidi

Illustration of fertilizer. (Between)

JAKARTA - PT Pupuk Indonesia is committed to continuing to distribute subsidized fertilizers even though the first contract worth IDR 26.7 trillion will expire in July 2024.

It is known that the contract for the distribution of the first subsidy allocation with a volume of 4.7 million tons will be completed in July 2024.

President Director of PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero), Rahmad Pribadi, emphasized that the administrative process of adding a budget is still ongoing so that the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) has not been able to finalize the fertilizer subsidy contract with Pupuk Indonesia.

The government, through the Ministry of Agriculture Number 249 of 2024, has increased the allocation of fertilizer subsidies which were previously 4.7 tons to 9.55 million tons or Rp 54 trillion for this year.

Rahmad said that this step aims to ensure that the need for subsidized fertilizer for farmers is met and agricultural productivity can continue to increase.

In addition, Rahmad also appreciated the efforts of the Minister of Agriculture who immediately moved quickly in overcoming this obstacle.

"I know exactly the Minister of Agriculture all out directly on the same day I reported him, he immediately called the President (Joko Widodo) and the Minister of Finance and it was agreed. From the ministerial level agreements, we have also been instructed not to stop distributing subsidy fertilizers," he explained in his statement, quoted on Sunday, July 21.

Pupuk Indonesia together with the Ministry of Agriculture and the government are committed so that the distribution of fertilizers continues to follow the Permentan.

"Subsidized fertilizer distribution will continue even though the first contract worth IDR 26.7 trillion has expired in July 2024. This is part of a joint commitment between Pupuk Indonesia and the government to protect farmers in undergoing this year's planting period," he said.

Rahmad conveyed that with this commitment, it is hoped that the distribution of subsidized fertilizers can run well and on time, so that national agricultural productivity is maintained.

The government and Pupuk Indonesia continue to strive to simplify the bureaucracy and increase efficiency in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers to support national food security.

As of July 12, 2024, Pupuk Indonesia has distributed 3.41 million tons of subsidized fertilizer. Currently, there are still stock of urea and NPK fertilizers of 1.7 million tons that are ready to be distributed.

On a different occasion, Rahmad also explained, "Not an allocation of 9.55 million tons that has run out, but a contract based on the first allocation, the volume has run out. What is more substantive must be prioritized while the administrative process is running. The substantive is that we must encourage agricultural productivity. Therefore, we will continue to distribute subsidized fertilizers according to the government's direction to protect farmers," he concluded.

Meanwhile, the General Chairperson of the Mainstay Fisherman Farmers' Contact (KTNA) in West Java, Otong Wiranta, said that socialization has an important role in supporting subsidized fertilizer policies and currently there are still problems in the distribution or distribution of subsidized fertilizers.

According to Otong, this socialization is very important to be intensified because until now there are still many farmers who do not understand the procedures for registering to redeem subsidized fertilizers.

"A total of 1 million farmers in the West Java region have not come to make transactions to redeem subsidized fertilizers. In addition, the regeneration and quality of human resources for farmers also require special attention. More than 65 percent of farmers in West Java are elderly and 37 percent of the total education level farmers are under elementary schools," he explained.