FERTILIZER PRICE TO INCREASE NEXT YEAR :MINISTER

Jakarta, Sept 6 (ANTARA) - Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono has warned that fertilizers price is estimated to increase next year if the subsidies are not raised.

The fertilizer subsidies next year are estimated at Rp24 trillion while in 2009 the subsidy was granted at Rp11,3 trillion, he said here Saturday after the rice harvest in Tetaan village, Panengahan South Lampung District, Lampung province.

"If it is not subsidized the fertilizer price will go up but if the subsidies are realized the amount will reach Rp24 trillion," the minister said.

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

The minister said that 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.

According to him, the 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 refunction," the minister said.