Sagatsus Polri Finds Scarcity Of Subsidized Fertilizer In OKI South Sumatra

Illustration of subsidized fertilizers (ANTARA)

The Head of the Special Task Force (Satgassus) Team at the National Police Headquarters, Hotman Tambunan, explained the results of the team's findings regarding monitoring the distribution of subsidized fertilizers and grants of agricultural machinery (alsintan) to farmers in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Regency, South Sumatra.

"Regarding subsidized fertilizers, there are still stalls that do not have stock so that when farmers need fertilizer, they are not available at the kiosk," Hotman said as quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, July 30.

He said that until the end of July 2023, the absorption of subsidized fertilizer allocations for OKI Regency was still around 55 percent. According to him, this is very detrimental to farmers who are entitled to receive subsidized fertilizers.

"Regarding the redeeming of fertilizers, it was carried out manually (T Pubers) and Farmers Cards. There were many farmer cards at kiosks from several farmer groups," he said.

He considered it should not be allowed because farmer cards are like ATMs that card owners have to save themselves to avoid misuse.

Hotman explained that regarding the storage of fertilizers in the kiosk warehouse, there are still those that are not in accordance with the standards that can damage fertilizers to be sold to farmers.

"There are still differences in the understanding of kiosks and distributors as well as PT Pupuk Indonesia (PIHC) related to the regulations for distributing fertilizers. Kiosks and distributors do not provide stock reports to the Agriculture Service and Trade Office," he said.

He said there were still around 12,880 or about 30 percent of NIK farmers receiving subsidized fertilizers throughout OKI Regency that did not match Dukcapil data.

Meanwhile, regarding agricultural tools and machinery (alsintan), according to Hotman, there is not much aid from the Ministry of Agriculture, so it is not significant enough to intensify agriculture in OKI Regency.

On these findings, Hotman explained that there were several suggestions given by the National Police Task Force, including first, kiosks and distributors must always provide subsidized fertilizer stocks so that farmers can redeem fertilizers at any time, while there is still an allocation allocation for them.

"The Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 4 of 2023 requires this," he said.

Second, so that PIHC and distributors provide understanding to kiosks not to collect and store farmer cards at their kiosks but are kept by each farmer.

He also asked the Ministry of Agriculture to accelerate the use of a redeem application with a digital card I-Pubers so that things like that don't happen again.

"PIHC needs to provide socialization to kiosks and distributors, under the supervision of the Trade and Agriculture Office, until all kiosks and distributors have the same understanding regarding the rules for distributing subsidized fertilizers," he said.

The National Police Task Force also asked the Agriculture Service in collaboration with the Dukcapil Service to immediately compare the NIK data of subsidized fertilizer recipient farmers who do not comply with the dukcapil data.

Regarding agricultural tools and machinery assistance, Hotman asked the OIC Agriculture Service to actively facilitate farmer groups that need alsintan.

"The agricultural service actively helps or provides recommendations for farmers so that farmers can obtain official diesel/fuel from the nearest official distributor/SPBU," he said.

The Task Force also asked the OKI Regional Government if the assistance of alsintan to farmers could be financed from the OKI Regency Regional Budget.

Member of the Special Task Force (Satgassus) of the National Police Headquarters Yudi Purnomo said that monitoring the distribution of subsidized fertilizers and alsintan grants to farmers in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Regency was a step to support food security made by the government.

"This activity, which was carried out from July 25-28, 2023, aims to ensure that subsidized fertilizers reach farmers without any misappropriation or acceptance by unauthorized parties and agricultural aid grants are actually accepted by farmer groups to be used to increase agricultural products for farmers," said Yudi.

Yudi emphasized that this activity is the role of the National Police in supporting government programs and is a direct order from the National Police Chief who cares about national food security and the welfare of Indonesian farmers.

According to him, in carrying out this task, the team was accompanied by parties from the OKI Regency Government, OKI Police, Ministry of Agriculture, and PT Pupuk Indonesia Holding Company.

The Task Force team that monitored were the Head of the Hotman Tambunan Team, with members namely Herbert Nababan, Yulia Anastasia Fuada, Yudi Purnomo, Waldi Gaganganka, and Wahyu Ahmat Dwiharyanto.