Agricom.id, MAKASSAR - Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo re-inspected the fertilizer storage of PT. Pupuk Kaltim in City of Makassar, South Sulawesi, Monday (31/8/2020). The inspection was about to check the stocks and could be distributed to the farmers so that they would not be difficult to get the subsidized fertilizers. The day before, Minister Syahrul also checked the storage of PT. Pupuk Kaltim in Bitung, North Sulawesi Province.

He said that the inspection was about to guarantee the subsidized stocks for thee farmers to succeed the increasing production and farmers’ economy. He also checked the distribution of the fertilizer in the province and the farmers would face nothing to get the fertilizers.

“The subsidized fertilizers are in good stocks. We keep monitoring the distribution to every region in this province and we guarantee that the farmers could get,” he said when inspecting the storage of PT. Pupuk Kaltim in Makassar, as in the official statement to Agricom.id.

He also mentioned the distribution system of subsidized fertilizer based on the Regulation of Minister of Agriculture No. 01 / 2020 about the Allocation and the Highest Retail Price of the Subsidized Fertilizer in Agriculture Sector in 2020 and the Regulation of Minister of Agriculture No. 10 / 2020.

"In the regulation it was mentioned that the subsidized fertilizers should be distributed to the farmers who join the groups and they are obliged to arrange the electronic group need basic plans or rencana dasar kebutuhan kelompok secara elektronik (e-RDKK), and should cultivate the areas, at least, two hectares,” he said.

Syahrul also urged that the distribution should be effectively done and should have accurate data in ID numbers from the synchronization in the population and civil registration agency to get better data.

“Together with the regional government, we encourage the farmers to guarantee the food stocks well in the first planting and we are now in the second planting in the dry season. We have to make sure that the fertilizers are in good stocks,” he said.

He also mentioned three main prior things to guarantee the food procurement, such as, the planting of superior seeds, the available fertilizers, and the guarantee of availability. The fertilizer allocation is the main issue to know that in few months ago, many regions did not get the fertilizers yet.

“President Joko Widodo ordered to change through PT. Pupuk Indonesia to know the numbers of last stocks to be used in the second planting,” Minister Syahrul said.

In the same location, Director of Pesticide and Fertilizer, General Directorate of Agriculture Infrastructure, Ministry of Agriculture, Muhammad Hatta said that his side is committed to make the better agriculture, such as, to guarantee the distribution of subsidized fertilizer, namely to fulfill the farmers’ needs in the second planting in this year.

“The subsidized fertilizer should be distributed by kartu tani and of course, it has been validated based on by name, by address,” he said.

He also mentioned that the card distribution would compensate the subsidized fertilizers closely. This is the follow up from the circulars from corruption eradication commission.

“We are optimist that the kartu tani program to compensate the subsidized fertilizer closely would run well. In many chances, president also emphasized about the program,” he said.

He continued that the distribution has been about 40,78 percent of the total allocation that the government decided for about 7,9 million tons in 2020. The provinces within the biggest allocation were East Java reaching 674.345 tons, Central Java reaching 546.034 tons, and West Java reaching 402.597 tons.

"The availability and the distribution are in good condition. We do it seriously because it has something to do with the food security. We are in synergy with others so that the farmers could get the fertilizers well,” Hatta said. (A2)