Govt To Raise Allocation Of Subsidized Fertilizers

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Agriculture Ministry plans to raise the allocation of subsidized fertilizers this year which stands at 9.5 million tons to meet needs.

"The allocation of fertilizers still falls far short of regional needs contained in the definitive plan of group needs (RDKK), so it will be raised soon," Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said in a press statement released here on Tuesday.

Based on the RDKK proposed by the regional governments to the central government, subsidized fertilizer needs to reach 13.38 million tons, or 3.88 million tons higher than the allocation of subsidized fertilizers set by the Agriculture Ministry.  The sharp difference may have the potential to cause fertilizer scarcity, he said.

According to him, fertilizer scarcity may pose an obstacle to the government's effort to achieve self-reliance in food production as farmers must pay higher prices in case of fertilizer scarcity.

Therefore, he asked Pupuk Indonesia Holding Company (PIHC) to raise the supply of subsidized  fertilizers in order to avoid scarcity.

"So PIHC needs to raise the supply of subsidized fertilizers. The government will pay the shortage in the state budget in the following year," he said.

The government has decided to allocate Rp28 trillion in funds for  9.5 million tons of subsidized fertilizers in 2015. The budget allocation will be used to procure 4.1  million tons of urea fertilizer, 850 thousand tons of Sp-36, 1.005 million tons for ZA, 2.55  million tons for NPK, and  1 million tons for organic fertilizers compared to 7.78 million  tons worth Rp18 trillion last year. (WDY)