World Food Day Moment: Petrokimia Gresik Enhances Contribution to National Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in Indonesia Through the Makmur Program

Petrokimia Gresik, a leading Agroindustry Solutions company and a member of the Pupuk Indonesia group, is making significant contributions to national food security and the sustainability of Indonesian agriculture. This is evident from the achievements of the "Makmur" (Prosperous) program during the 2021-2023 period.

Dwi Satriyo Annurogo, President Director of Petrokimia Gresik, explained on Monday (October 16, 2023), that the Makmur program was initiated by the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises of Indonesia, Erick Thohir, in collaboration with Pupuk Indonesia. Petrokimia Gresik has been implementing this program since 2021 and has successfully empowered 106,102 farmers across Indonesia, freeing them from dependence on subsidized fertilizers with increasingly limited allocations each year.

"In the Makmur program, Petrokimia Gresik is tasked with providing cultivation assistance and agricultural supervision through non-subsidized products, resulting in abundant harvests and increased prosperity for farmers. Thus, Petrokimia Gresik has successfully prospered more than 106 thousand farmers in Indonesia," emphasized Dwi Satriyo.

Over the past three years, Petrokimia Gresik has implemented the Makmur program on a total area of 234,661 hectares (Ha) spread across various regions in Indonesia. The details are as follows: in 2021, the program covered an area of 20,440 Ha, involving 21,694 farmers. The achievements continued to increase in 2022, with Petrokimia Gresik successfully implementing the Makmur program in an area of 98,598 Ha, engaging 60,307 farmers.

Finally, in 2023 until the end of September or the third quarter of this year, Petrokimia Gresik has realized the Makmur program in an area of 115,623 Ha, involving 24,101 farmers. These annual achievements have surpassed the set targets. The targeted commodities include rice and sugarcane, followed by corn, oil palm, shallots, horticulture, coffee, tobacco, and water spinach seeds.

"Petrokimia Gresik, as a company with the most complete range of fertilizers in Indonesia, is also able to provide answers to all the needs of farmers to encourage them to become more independent, especially when ZA, SP-36, and Petroganik are no longer included in the subsidy scheme in 2022 according to Minister of Agriculture Regulation Number 10 of 2022," he added.

As an alternative, in 2022, Petrokimia Gresik, in its golden age, launched non-subsidized fertilizers such as ZA Plus, Phosgreen, and organic liquid fertilizer Phonska OCA Plus. Additionally, Petrokimia Gresik introduced several flagship products such as Phonska Alam, Petroganik Premium, SP-26, and Petro Niphos. These fertilizers are applied in various Makmur programs.

"In every cultivation, we always apply organic fertilizers. This is the company's commitment to realizing sustainable agriculture in Indonesia," he emphasized.

Makmur Program Innovations

Furthermore, Dwi Satriyo added that Petrokimia Gresik has implemented several innovations in the Makmur program to maximize results. These include the Sekolah Makmur (Prosperous School) program, which received direct appreciation from the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Erick Thohir, during the departure of the first batch in 2022, and the Santri Makmur (Prosperous Students) program, which was inaugurated directly by the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo.

The Sekolah Makmur and Santri Makmur programs were initiated to optimize the implementation of the Makmur program. Through these programs, Petrokimia Gresik seeks to produce superior human resources in the field of agriculture in collaboration with the Polytechnic for Agricultural Development (Polbangtan) and Islamic boarding schools.

"These programs are one of the innovations introduced by Petrokimia Gresik to provide solutions to various problems experienced by farmers," concluded Dwi Satriyo.