"The sudden hike in the price of non-subsidised fertilizers has caused other issues related to the production delay and food commodity price hike," Iskandar noted in his statement here on Wednesday.
To help the local farmers, mitigatory steps as a precautionary measure against a likely dearth of subsidised fertilizers due to the fertilizer cartel that seeks to profit by increasing the non-subsidised fertilizer price must also be conceived, he said.
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Moreover, the deputy speaker urged the government to consider providing incentives to domestic fertiliser producers that are compelled to hike their product cost, as the price of imported fertiliser materials was recently increasing.
"The government must optimise its monitoring of the subsidised fertilizer distribution process to farmers and examine existing issues to conceive measures in addressing the uneven and delayed distribution of subsidised fertilizer," Iskandar noted.
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He also suggested the government to evaluate and reverify subsidised fertilizer recipients' data to ensure the subsidy is distributed only to eligible farmers.
Earlier, Indonesian Peasant Union's (SPI's) National Seed Center head Kusnan noted that non-subsidised fertilizer price hikes had reduced the farmers' potential revenue nationwide.
The fertilizer price hike consequently caused the farmers' terms of trade in 2021 to not reach the breakeven point, he added.
The center head noted that a 50-kg sack of urea fertilizer that was priced at Rp265-280 thousand (US$18.55-19.6) at the end of 2020 had increased to Rp380 thousand (US$26.6) in November 2021 and had surpassed Rp480 thousand (US$33.6) by the end of December 2021.
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Translator: Imam B, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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