Year-ender: FARMERS WANT CHEAP, EASY TO GET FERTILIZERS IN 2010 By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Dec 27 (ANTARA) - Farmers hope they would be able to obtain fertilizers easily and at a low price in 2010 because fertilizers are vital to boost their farm produce.

They have always difficulties in obtaining fertilizers due to distribution problems and their price hikes. The government, for example, has guaranteed that this year the fertilizer prices would not be raised, there would be no such guarantee next year.

And a former minister has even predicted that fertilizer prices would increase in 2010.

Last September, then Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono warned that fertilizer prices may be raised next year if the government subsidies are not raised, especially that distribution to the farmers has not been very smooth.

"At least until the end of 2009, we guarantee there will be no increase in the price of fertilizers," Anton said.

According to Anton, there was no problem with the supply of fertilizers during the planting season in 2009, as fertilizer supplies are still adequate. But the problem is the lack of fair distribution of fertilizers.

"In one year's urea fertilizer planning, it has been predicted that there would be a lack of supplies, which could be overcome only by importing 500,000 tons of fertilizers," Anton said.

Therefore his successor, Agriculture Minister Suswono issued last month a decree that regulates the distribution of subsidized fertilizers so that farmers would be able to obtain commodity smoothly and at a relatively lower price.

Still, the distribution is not yet smooth. Thus, the minister urged governors and district heads throughout the country on Saturday to issue regulations immediately for the distribution of fertilizers in their respective region.

The minister made the call when he met with farmers in Indramayu district, West Java, over the weekend. He was responding to their complaints over difficulties in obtaining subsidized fertilizers.

Suswono has received a report from fertilizer producers that they were unable to distribute their products because of the absence of provincial and district level regulations on the distribution of subsidized fertilizers.

"A ministerial decree has been issued last month. So, if there is a problem with the distribution it must have been caused by the absence of provincial and district level decrees," the minister said.

He said that at current fertilizer stocks were big at the producers level so that actually there was no reason for the commodity to run short at the farmers' level. Moreover, the government has also raised the value of its subsidies from Rp11.3 trillion in 2009 to Rp24 trillion in 2010.

"The fertilizer subsidies next year are estimated at Rp24 trillion while in 2009 the subsidy was granted at Rp11,3 trillion. If it is not subsidized the fertilizer price will go up but if the subsidies are realized the amount will reach Rp24 trillion," former agriculture minister Anton Apriantono said.

According to Anton, farmers should no longer rely on chemical fertilizers to cultivate their rice field, otherwise it would be better if they use the organic fertilizers.

Currently the use of organic fertilizers among farmers is still very low even 30 percent of the production, the fact that the organic fertilizers price is lower than the inorganic ones.

"When the price of organic fertilizer is Rp1.000/kg not many farmers are interested to buy, even more choose the price of the urea at Rp1.200/kg," he said.

Therefore, in the future, the government will increase subsidies for organic fertilizers so that the price drops to Rp500/kg in effort to step up the fertilizer use among farmers, he said.

Excessive use of chemical fertilizers will cause damage to the rice field acreage that causes the death of organisms that make the soil fertile. "Therefore farmers are urged to re-use organic fertilizer in a bid to make the damaged soil function gain," the former minister said.

Actually, the government early this year was preparing a master plan for revitalization of domestic fertilizer industries to assure long-term supply of fertilizers, or at least until 2015.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after making a working visit to the office of PT Pupuk Kujang in Karawang, West Java, in February said that he had already instructed his ministers concerned to formulate the plan.
"In view of meeting long-term demand, revitalization of the industries need to be done such as by refurbishing old plants," he said.

The revitalization program might also cover construction of new plants near gas fields such as in Tangguh, West Papua. To support smooth implementation of the plan long-term gas supply also had to be assured.
"There must be continuity of gas supply in a long-term. There must be certainty in this respect as it is also part of the plan. It must also be assured where the gas supply will come from," he said.

President Yudhoyono said the plan to be prepared by the government would be based upon the domestic need of fertilizers until 2015 and years ahead.

But to guarantee that farmers would get fertilizers easily and at a cheap price next year, the government will urge all governors and district head to help smooth the distribution of the commodity.

Therefore, Minister Suswono said he had ordered governors and district heads throughout the country to issue decrees for the distribution of subsidized fertilizers.

In this case, economists called on the government to involve village unit cooperatives (KUD) in the distribution of fertilizers to farmers.

"The method of fertilizer distribution applied so far is not effective so that farmers always had difficulties in obtaining the commodity," Agustianto Mingka, secretary general of the Muslim Economists Association (IAEI), said last month.