FARMERS CALL FOR SYSTEMATIC FERTILIZER DISTRIBUTION

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Oct 17 (ANTARA) - Indonesian farmers have called on the government to formulate a systematic subsidized fertilizer distribution system in order to overcome fertilizer scarcities that often occur at the farmers' level.              So far, distribution of subsidized fertilizers has often been off-target and misappropriated. Some are exported illegally and distributed to the plantation and fishery sectors, causing supply shortage in the food crops agricultural sector.              The illegal distribution and exports of subsidized fertilizers that cause fertilizer scarcities greatly harm the interests of not only the farmers but also of the government's food program, which has been formulated to reinforce the country's food resilience.              Subsidized fertilizers have been designed for the food crops agricultural sector. If fertilizer supplies fall short, farmers are discouraged to cultivate their farms, while at the same time they are expected to increase their production to boost the government's efforts to build the country's food resilience.              "So far, the distribution of some of the subsidized fertilizers has been off-target, namely farmers in the food crops agricultural sector.  The illegal distribution could have happened due to the lack of supervision by the government," Sutrisno Iwantono, the chairman of the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI), said last week.              Therefore, he said that the government should formulate a systematic subsidized fertilizer distribution system where data on land (rice fields etc), land owners, farmers, distribution timing and the type of fertilizers needed is also included.              Due to shortage of subsidized fertilizers, farmers held a protest recently and demanded that the government should resolve the country's fertilizer problem immediately.              "The country's fertilizer problem is actually a classical one. Scarcities of supply always take place every year. This should not be left unheeded and we have been upset over the fact that farmers have often failed to harvest due to shortage of fertilizer supplies. The President must interfere in it to help us," Sudir Santoso, presidium chairman of the National Village Officials Organization (Parade), said.              He threatened to organize a large scale protest at the ministry of agriculture if the government failed to resolve fertilizer problems in the country soon.              According to Santoso, fertilizer scarcities in the field are actually caused by problems with the ministry of agriculture. The fact that subsidized fertilizers could not be distributed evenly is just proof of the government's inability in arranging the procurement and the distribution of subsidized fertilizers.              "If the minister has worked correctly but problems still exist, this points to wrongdoings in the lower levels of the state machinery, in my opinion. This must be sanctioned and should not be left unheeded. One should not be afraid of doing this if it is in the interests of the country's farmers," asserted Santoso.              According to him, the government should overcome the fertilizer problems through three instruments, namely regulations, intervention and subsidy distribution that reaches its target.              If the government has applied the three instruments but problems still exist, then it is reasonable to suspect the involvement of a mafia inside the ministry of agriculture, according to Santoso.              "A fertilizer mafia is worse than a terrorist cell because its acts will disturb the food needs of millions of people. Therefore, if the government is not able to solve the problem, we will organize a large scale rally," he threatened.              According to HKTI chairman Sutrisno Iwantono, the problems regarding the distribution of subsidized fertilizers emerged due to the lack of government supervision in the fields.              He said that the HKTI had received many reports on fertilizer misappropriations in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers.              "There are cases where subsidized fertilizers are distributed to parties who are not the right recipients while supervision at the distributor level is weak. It is weak because it does not involve farmers or their organizations. So, the distribution of subsidized fertilizers is prone to misappropriation," Iwantono noted.              Problems in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers have been rising for a long while now. The problem can already be seen when the plan is made on the definitive needs for subsidized fertilizers of farmers groups.             "We suspect there is manipulation in deciding data and figures on the needs for subsidized fertilizers. The supervision is not tight because all stakeholders are not involved and as a result, distribution of fertilizers is prone to misappropriation," he said.              Iwantono explained that the Agriculture Minister's Decree No. 6. /2011 regulated that subsidized fertilizers were only designed for food crop-producing agricultural farmers, not for food crop-producing plantation companies.              Therefore, the government should formulate the mechanism of a systematic distribution system which includes data on farmer's lands, number of farmers, timing of the distribution, type of fertilizers and planting seasons.              "Regional government should fully supervise the distribution of subsidized fertilizers, particularly by the supervision commissions formed in the region. We are afraid that the distribution would be off-target if the system applies direct distribution," Iwantono added.              According to Bambang Tjahjono, president director of fertilizer firm PT Pupuk Kujang, the agricultural sector needs 10.4 million tons of fertilizers.              In 2011, usage of urea fertilizer reached 4.5 million tons, SP-36 fertilizer 721 thousand tons, ZA fertilizer 944 thousand tons and organic fertilizer 375 thousand tons.              Tjahjono said that Indonesia still had major potential for the application of fertilizers because there were still extensive areas outside Java that could be cultivated for agricultural purposes.              So far, he said that agricultural cultivation of rice had only been focused on Java.  "Rice production is so far always focused on Java while the productivity of the farm lands on this island has been stagnant," said Tjahjono.              He informed that rice production in Java in 2011 stood at 20.4 million tons and production is already stagnant. However, fertilizer application outside Java is expected to increase production significantly.              "We have conducted a fertilizer application test on a tidal area in South Kalimantan. Before we used fertilizers, rice production per hectare was about 2 - 3 tons. But by using fertilizers, production increased to about 5 - 6 tons per hectare," he said.              Seeing the potential outside Java, Tjahono asked all stakeholders in the food sector to develop rice fields in provinces outside Java.***2***  (T.A014/A/KR-BSR/A/A014) 17-10-2012 17:47: