InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – Many smallholders are difficult to purchase fertilizers for bing expensive. The government itself decided that they would not get quota to purchase subsidized fertilizers.

Vice Chairman of Indonesian Representative, Sultan B. Najamudin urged the government through Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency to allocate special fertilizer subsidy for smallholders in many regions.

He is sorry for the government blacklisted palm oil as one commodity that would not get subsidized fertilizers.

“As the result, they have to compete with corporates that master the production source,” he said, as InfoSAWIT quoted from Antara, Friday (24/2/2023).

He knew from the smallholders in Bengkulu Province that they were difficult to purchase chemical fertilizer because it is more than Rp 1 million per pack. This forced palm oil plantation productivity less up to 50 percent.

He thought the expensive non-subsidized fertilizers made the smallholders not cultivate the plantation needs. He thought the government needs to get solution or substitution of subsidized fertilizers for the smallholders.

“Until now we know that hundred trillion derived from palm oil fund but the smallholders got less distribution. Replanting program reached about Rp 702 billion until 2018 or 1,6 percent. The fund was hardly allocated for corporates through biodiesel mandatory program,” he said.

He thought the program is not wrong but the ideal is that fund allocation should be adjustable for the smallholders’ needs namely in plantation production. (T2)