Petrokimia Gresik Ready To Support Minister Andi Amran's Accelerated Planting Program

The Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) of the Republic of Indonesia, Andi Amran Sulaiman, participated in harvesting and planting rice with farmers as part of the "Accelerated Planting" program in the villages of Ngadipuro and Ngadirejo, Widang District, Tuban Regency, East Java, some time ago. Petrokimia Gresik, a Pupuk Indonesia agro-industrial solutions company member, is ready to support the success of the Accelerated Planting program by providing a national subsidized fertilizer stock of 319,207 tons.

Mentan explained to the media that the Accelerated Planting program encourages farmers to plant rice immediately after harvesting. This program aims to increase national rice productivity towards rice self-sufficiency.

"We must ensure food security, as food is synonymous with national resilience. Currently, we are visiting food granaries in ten provinces to assess the readiness for planting, as the rainy season has begun. Alhamdulillah, planting has started," said Mentan.

Mentan also mentioned that Indonesia achieved perfect rice self-sufficiency in 2017, 2019, and 2020. During President Soeharto's era in 1984, Indonesia also received awards from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for achieving rice self-sufficiency.

"However, during President Soeharto's era, when we talked about rice self-sufficiency, we still imported 10 percent of our needs. At that time, Indonesia's population was just over 100 million. But during President Jokowi's era (Joko Widodo, Ed.), with the population doubling, we achieved perfect self-sufficiency or zero imports. And East Java is the number one rice supplier in Indonesia," he explained.

Meanwhile, the Governor of East Java, Khofifah Indar Parawansa, explained that 80 percent of the rice needs of 16 provinces in Indonesia are supplied by East Java. As of September 2022-September 2023, East Java had a rice surplus of 9.23 percent.

"The BPS (Central Statistics Agency) predicts that until the end of this year, East Java will still be the highest among all provinces, meaning that from 2020 to 2023, rice production in East Java has been the highest in Indonesia. This is the result of synergy from the entire team," she said briefly.

Meanwhile, Petrokimia Gresik's Director of Operations and Production, Digna Jatiningsih, expressed readiness to support the Accelerated Planting program by preparing subsidized fertilizers in accordance with government regulations. From the hundreds of thousands of tons of stock, it consists of 71,922 tons of subsidized Urea, equivalent to 186 percent of the minimum requirements set by the government, and 247,285 tons of NPK, equivalent to 185 percent of the requirements.

Digna also ensured that subsidized fertilizers would be distributed to farmers according to government regulations. Farmers eligible for subsidized fertilizers must meet the criteria outlined in Minister of Agriculture Regulation (Permentan) Number 10 of 2022, including mandatory membership in farmer groups, registration in the Agriculture Extension Management

Information System (SIMLUHTAN), and cultivating a maximum of two hectares of land.

"In addition, strategic commodities eligible for fertilizer subsidies include rice, corn, soybeans, chili, shallots, garlic, coffee, sugarcane, and cocoa," she added. As part of the company's commitment to increasing national agricultural productivity, Petrokimia Gresik also implements the Makmur program, which is an agricultural ecosystem from upstream to downstream involving farmers, banks, insurance institutions, and offtakers. As of October 2023, Petrokimia Gresik has implemented the Makmur program on 126,044 hectares of land, involving 30,212 farmers from various commodities.

"The Makmur program makes farmers more self-reliant, as non-subsidized fertilizers are used. This also increases productivity," concluded Digna.