PETROGANIK VILLAGE CAMPAIGNS FOR BALANCED FERTILIZATION

PRESS CONFERENCE

PETROGANIK VILLAGE CAMPAIGNS FOR BALANCED FERTILIZATION

Event : Rice Harvest

Place : Jombang Regency

Day/Date : Monday, March 11th, 2019

PT Petrokimia Gresik (PG) together with Petroganik organic fertilizer production partners, distributors, and Jombang Regency local government held rice harvest in Petroganik Village in Kedungrejo Village, Megaluh District, Jombang, East Java, Monday (11/3).

PG Marketing Director, Meinu Sadariyo, stated that Petroganik Village is an education, socialization and promotion programme initiated by Petroganik production partners collaborated with PG distributors for farmers in their local area. This program has been running since 2014 and was aimed to support rice farmers, starting from land cultivation, superior seeds selection, fertilization pattern, and harvest.

"Petroganik Village is also a support by Petrokimia Gresik to the Food Production Improvement Programme (P4) by government, dedicated to increase the productivity by escorting the agricultural reservation activities", Meinu said.

In addition, Meinu continued, this programme is a way to alter the prior mindset of using inorganic fertilizers only to apply balanced fertilization, that is by adding organic fertilizers in every agricultural cultivation.

"Balanced fertilization is a combination of organic fertilizers, to improve soil fertility, and inorganic fertilizer as a nutrient provider plants", Meinu explained.

The balanced fertilization pattern recommended by PG is 5: 3: 2, that is 500kg of Petroganik organic fertilizer, 300kg of NPK Phonska fertilizer, and 200kg of Urea fertilizer for each hectare of rice fields.

"We have tested the effectiveness of this balanced fertilization pattern in various regions and is proven able to increase rice productivity", Meinu added.

Meinu also mentioned the application of organic fertilizer by farmers needs to be supported by several parties, especially in terms of delivering the correct information regarding to the function and benefit of organic fertilizers in agricultural cultivation.

The Petroganik organic fertilizer is one of subsidized fertilizers made by PG. This fertilizer is first produced in 2004 as response to the research results by Bogor Center of Land and Agro-Climate (2003) which stated that most agricultural land in Indonesia contain C-Organic level below 2%. While healthy soil should contain at least C-Organic of 5%.

Meanwhile, Petroganik organic fertilizer has an C-Organic level of 12.5%. Thus, Petroganik organic fertilizer is not intended to add soil nutrients, instead to revitalize the physical, chemical and structural properties of the soil itself. While the plant nutrients requirement can be supplied from inorganic fertilizers.

"Therefore, this balanced fertilization pattern is a manifestation of agricultural sustainability, where the organic fertilizers contribute to maintain the environmental sustainability, in this case, to keep the land fertile", Meinu said.

PG has placed field officers to give information and assistance to farmers about the importance of Petroganik organic fertilizer to the environmental sustainability. In fact, PG has provided 4 (four) Soil Test Cars to help farmers measure the soil fertility level, as well as recommend the appropriate fertilizers to apply.

This is a part of business transformation, where PG is currently not only selling the products, but also offering solutions. Not only solutions to the farmers, but also to the broader scales, such as solutions for the agro-industry sectors through a series of products from upstream to downstream.

"We hope this Kampung Petroganik programme can be applied also by other districts, so that more and more farmers are aware of the benefits and importance of organic fertilizers to the sustainability of our agriculture", Meinu concluded.

PT Petrokimia Gresik For further information contact:

Corporate Secretary: Yusuf Wibisono

Office: (031) 3981811

Ext. 2218

Mobile: 0811 378 571

Yusuf Wibisono Email: wibisono@petrokimia-gresik.com

Corporate Secretary yusufwibie@gmail.com