The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) guarantees the availability of subsidized fertilizers throughout 2021. It was noted that the allocation of subsidized fertilizers was increased to 9 million tons plus 1.5 million liters of liquid organic fertilizer, while in 2020 the allocation was only 8.9 million tons. “Hopefully, more farmers can get the subsidized fertilizer. And of course, the farmers who are entitled to receive subsidized fertilizer are the farmers who have been recorded in the e-RDKK according to the submission received by the Ministry of Agriculture from the local government’s proposal,” Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL) said in Jakarta, Thursday (7/1/2021) as quoted from the official website of the Ministry of Agriculture.

For information, according to Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture (Permentan) No. 49/2020, subsidized fertilizers are intended for farmers who have joined farmer groups that compile Electronic Group Needs Definitive Plans (e-RDKK). Therefore, SYL instructed his staff to clean up the downstream lines of the fertilizer subsidy.

“In 2021, we really supervise, especially lines three and four or from distributors to agents, in sub-districts and villages. If it can work here, the availability of subsidized fertilizers is fulfilled,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Director General of Agricultural Infrastructure and Facilities, Sarwo Edhy explained that based on the eRDKK submitted by the Farmer Group, farmers receiving subsidized fertilizer are farmers who conduct farming business in the food crop, plantation, horticulture and livestock sub-sectors with a maximum area of 2 hectares. Farmers are also conducting food crop sub-sector farming in the expansion of new planting areas.

“The implementation of subsidized fertilizer distribution using Tani Cards will be done in stages. But for now, not all regions have implemented fertilizer distribution using the Tani Card. We will do it gradually until Tani Cards are spread throughout Indonesia in accordance with data on subsidized fertilizer recipients,” he said.

Regarding the assumption of rising fertilizer prices, the Director of Fertilizers and Pesticides at the Ministry of Agriculture, Muhammad Hatta, said that fertilizer prices have never risen since 2012. In fact, the price of goods often normally continues to increase due to inflation, fuel increases, raw material price increases, transportation costs, and other factors.

“There are many fields that must be subsidized by the government, namely health, education, social assistance, fertilizer, fuel, electricity, not to mention the costs for Covid-19. So the subsidy budget for each field must have a limit,” he said.

“If you look at submissions from the regional governments, the total need for fertilizer in Indonesia reaches 23 million tons per year. Of course, it is impossible to fulfill all of them with a limited budget,” added Hatta.

Hatta emphasized that the allocation of subsidized fertilizers in 2021 is 9 million tons, which is distributed through the e-RDKK system, so that subsidy recipients are truly targeted. Thus, the government commitmented to esure there are no scarcity of fertilizer.

“But indeed the allocation of subsidy recipients is limited and there are conditions for receiving subsidies. Plus the rations are limited and there are rules that must be met. If there is a shortage, it is possible that the farmer is not registered in the e-RDKK or the subsidized fertilizer allocation has run out,” he said.

The preparation of e-RDKK is sourced from farmer groups and goes through a number of verification stages before being determined as data for subsidized fertilizer recipients. Therefore, he asked farmers to ensure that they are members of a farmer group and registered in the e-RDKK to receive subsidized fertilizer.

“If in the field we find kiosks that try to make it difficult for farmers to redeem, then we will not hesitate to revoke their licenses,” Hatta said.