JakartaPost-Aug 14
The government is encouraging the domestic fertilizer industry to develop cleaner technologies for its production processes, Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto has said. Airlangga made the statement while visiting the headquarters of state-owned fertilizer firm PT Pupuk Kaltim in Bontang, East Kalimantan, on Tuesday. “The goal of building fertilizer plants is not to develop the petrochemical industry but to increase rice production. Without fertilizer there would have not been an agricultural revolution,” Airlangga said. “The development of fertilizer plants tended to slow after the [1998] Reform movement, while in fact a plant for such a capital-extensive industry creates jobs for people living around the facility.” Airlangga said Pupuk Kaltim could play a significant role in developing clean technology to produce fertilizers. Pupuk Kaltim is a subsidiary of state-owned fertilizer holding company PT Pupuk Indonesia, which is responsible for distributing 9.5 million tonnes of subsidized fertilizer this year, more than double the initial allotment. The government has also added another Rp 7.1 trillion (US$453 million) to the Rp 26.6 trillion fertilizer subsidy budget for this year, which is expected to help ease fertilizer shortages. With the government currently working on a new digital system to improve transparency and efficiency in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers, Airlangga said he also expected that Pupuk Indonesia would play a part in ensuring eligible farmers had access to subsidized fertilizers. Currently, the subsidies are channeled to producers to allow them to sell fertilizer to farmers below market price. The government requires farmers to register on an online database or possess a smallholder card to help ensure the subsidized fertilizer goes to the intended beneficiaries. However, subsidized fertilizer is often hard to find, partly because of flawed allocation data and distribution issues, including suspected fraud, forcing farmers to rely on costlier, unsubsidized products. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2024/08/14/govt-pushes-for-clean-tech-in-fertilizer-production.html.
