Government Concerned with Fertilizer Subsidy Revocation

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Agriculture Ministry's agricultural infrastructure and facilities Director General Sumardjo Gatot Irianto stated that the government have tried to prevent the organic fertilizer subsidy to be redistributed to non-organic fertilizer. Sumardjo said that the subsidy revocation would be counterproductive with the government's goal to establish Indonesia as the organic fertilizer manufacturer country.

"We have tried to argue that the subsidy redistribution contravenes the spirit of 'go organic', but the House of Representatives (DPR) has made the decision," Gatot told Tempo on Tuesday, February 11, 2014.

To this date, the government has not yet planned to review the decision made by the DPR's agriculture commission.

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said that the debate loss was unfortunate as the decision contravenes with the country's food independence plan. He was concerned that if the subsidy was revoked, the food productivity target would be out of reach because of land quality degradation.

Earlier, Agriculture Minister Suswono had suggested famers to use organic fertilizers as the subsidized chemical fertilizer supplies declined due to a raise in base buying prices (HPP). The fertilizer supply for this year is to reach 7.7 million tons, while the fertilizer demand is to reach 9 million tons.

AYU PRIMA SANDI