Minister Of Agriculture Amran Is Not Playing Games, Will Revoke Subsidy Fertilizer Permits For Distributors And Distributors Who Establish Stock

Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman while reviewing rice planting activities in the Barokah Farmers Group, Blawong, Trimulyo Village, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region. Wednesday (24/1/2024). BETWEEN/HO-Documentation Ministry of Agriculture.

JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman threatened to revoke distributor permits and subsidized fertilizer retailers kiosks that deposited stocks during the planting period. "Don't play with the farmers, especially fertilizers. The retailers, distributors, we promise that when they have been investigated by the police and coordinated by the Regent, I promise to revoke their business license and we will not tolerate it," Amran said in a statement in Jakarta, Antara, Wednesday, January 24. Amran said that his party had simplified the process of distributing fertilizers using an Identity Card (KTP). Therefore, distributors and retail kiosks are expected not to hinder farmers who want to redeem fertilizers. Regarding availability, Amran asked farmers not to worry because PT Pupuk Indonesia as a subsidized fertilizer producer has a production capacity of 13.5 million tons. "“The factories owned are able to meet the needs of both subsidized fertilizers and non-subsidized fertilizers," he said. Director General of Agricultural Infrastructure and Facilities, Ministry of Agriculture, Ali Jamil explained, the mechanism for distributing fertilizers using the iPubers application involves farmers who only need to show ID cards to scan the Population Identification Number (NIK) in order to access farmer allocation data. Dalam proses itu, lanjutnya, kiosk akan menginput jumlah transaksi sesuai kebutuhan, dan petani dapat menandatangani bukti transaksi secara elektronik melalui aplikasi tersebut. "This KTP will be in the photo with the person who took it using the ipubers application. Proof of all transactions is stored digitally," said Ali Jamil. However, Ali Jamil stressed that subsidized fertilizer recipient farmers must be part of the farmer group registered in SIMLUHTAN. In addition, farmers who receive subsidized fertilizers have also been registered in the e-RDKK (Definitive Plan for the Needs of Farmer Groups). He also ensured that the distribution of subsidized fertilizers based on ID cards was carried out with the right target because the Ministry of Agriculture had implemented integrated systems and mechanisms ranging from distribution, reporting, to payment of subsidized fertilizers. The community, especially farmers, can report alleged misappropriation of the distribution and sale of subsidized fertilizers through the complaint channel for Central KPPP Complaints via WhatsApp [phone] with service hours 08.00 to 15.00 WIB. Farmers can also contact 24-hour PIHC Complaints services via WhatsApp [phone] and Call Center 0800-1008-001. The government continues to allocate fertilizer subsidy funds every year with the ongoing allocation addition process. The plan is that the funds will be increased by Rp. 14 trillion, thereby increasing the subsidized fertilizer budget from Rp. 26.6 trillion to Rp. 40.6 trillion.

The additional budget is to increase the distribution from 30 percent to 60 percent or from 4.7 million tons to 7.2 million tons. In detail, urea fertilizer will increase from 2.7 million tons to 4.1 million tons and NPK fertilizer from 2.0 million tons to 3.1 million tons. All these changes are expected to support 14,286,331 NIK farmers who have been registered in the system as proposing fertilizer subsidies.