Petrokimia Produces 72 Percent of Subsidized Fertilizer Production Target

Gresik, East Java (Antara) - PT Petrokimia Gresik said on Wednesday it already produced and distributed 288,000 tons of subsidized fertilizers or 72 percent of its target of 4.5 million tons for this year. Hidayat Nyakman, the president of the state owned fertilizer company said here distribution of subsidized fertilizers is in line with the regulation of the agriculture minister that requires the company to distribute 4.5 million tons of subsidized fertilizers this year. The subsidized fertilizers include 193,000 tons of urea, 800,000 tons of ZA, 760,000 tons of SP-36, 2 million tons of NPK and 800,000 tons of petroganik. Hidayat said the company needs support from provincial governors and other lower district administrations to facilitate distribution of subsidized fertilizers in the regions. He said he hoped difficulty in the distribution so far could be sorted out , adding governor and district chiefs need to issue regulation to provide guidelines in the distribution of subsidized fertilizer. Many districts and city administrations have no regulations on the distribution of fertilizers , resulting in scarcity of supply in some areas, he said. He acknowledged that scarcity of supply in the past two years is also attributable to a decline in production as a result of revision of budget for subsidized fertilizers following the falling value of rupiah against the US dollar. "However, based on an agreement between the government and the House of Representative , producers are required to continue to fully serve the farmers," he said. (*)