In 2020, only 8.9 million tons, or nearly 34 percent, of the proposed 26 million tons were met. In 2021, only 9.04 million tons of the proposed 24.3 million tons have been realized
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has distributed 3.274 million tons, or 36.22 percent of this year’s target of 9.041 million tons, of subsidized fertilizers to farmers across Indonesia as of June 9, 2021.

The distribution of subsidized liquid organic fertilizers has so far reached 2.220 tons, or 0.15 percent of the target of 1.5 million tons for this year, director general of agricultural facilities and infrastructure at the Agriculture Ministry, Ali Jamil, said.

Due to budget limitations, the distribution of subsidized fertilizers would not meet the needs of all farmers, he said during a hearing with the working committee of subsidized fertilizers and farmers' cards of Commission IV of the House of Representatives (DPR) in Jakarta on Monday.

"In 2020, only 8.9 million tons, or nearly 34 percent, of the proposed 26 million tons were met. In 2021, only 9.04 million tons of the proposed 24.3 million tons have been realized," he said.

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On average, the government can meet 34 percent to 42 percent of Indonesia’s total subsidized fertilizer needs per year, Jamil informed.

The Agriculture Ministry has been trying to make efficient use of budget funds allocated for subsidized fertilizers through several strategies to increase the volume of subsidized fertilizers distributed to farmers, he said.

The first strategy has been lowering the production cost of subsidized fertilizers by up to 5 percent to save around 2.457 trillion of budget funds, he added.

The second strategy has been altering the formula of NPK fertilizers to 15:10:12 from 15:15:15, he informed.

"Of course, this was based on the study conducted by the research and development section. Through the new formula, we can save Rp2.272 trillion (of funds)," Jamil said.

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Translator: Aditya Ramadhan/Suharto
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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