The Bantul regency administration in Yogyakarta is working with PT Petrokimia Gresik to produce organic fertilizer from animal manure and has built an organic fertilizer integrated processing unit (UPT) in Karanganyar hamlet, Gadingharjo village in Sanden district.
The UPT, officially opened on Thursday, will operate daily with a daily output capacity of 7.6 tons of organic fertilizer. The UPT was built at a cost of Rp 2.5 billion (about US$250,000),
PT Petrokimia Gresik buys up raw product at Rp 1,200 per kilogram and sells the fertilizer to the Agricultural Ministry at Rp 1,500 per kilogram after packaging.
"The fertilizer will be used to meet the ministry's demand for organic fertilizer and distribute it through farming communities. The government has provided a subsidy of Rp 1,000 for a kilo of fertilizer, so farmers pay only Rp 500 per kilo," said Bantul Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Agency head Edy Suharyanto.
The Bantul administration is currently drafting a local ordinance to ban the sale of the fertilizer outside the regency in a bid to promote the use of organic fertilizer.
Local farmers have so far been selling manure outside the regency, to Wonosobo, Temanggung and Parakan. "This will raise the image of organic fertilizer and restore the soil which has thus far been damaged by the use of chemical fertilizer," said Gadingharjo village chief Simadiyana.
The new UPT, according to Sumadiyana, would also improve the welfare of the community, especially livestock farmers. Besides offering jobs to the local workforce, farmers can append earnings from manure as the government buys cattle and chicken droppings at Rp 250 and Rp 300 per kilogram.
"So far animal dung has low economic value and is very cheap when sold," said Sumadiyana.
Dried manure is initially processed into granule form, dried out and then refined before being packaged. "Currently, only 10 workers are employed at the UPT, but I'm convinced that prospects of organic fertilizer will be good in the long run and more workers will be employed," he said.
He added the use of organic fertilizer among farmers in Gadingharjo was on the rise. "At least 50 percent of the farmers have used organic fertilizer for additional fertilizing," he said.
The UPT, the only organic fertilizer processing unit in Yogyakarta, is expected to bridge the gap between livestock breeders and farmers. Based on data at the Bantul regency administration, the UPT had yet to utilize the regency's manure producing potential.
Livestock farms in Bantul produce 500 tons of wet, or around 300 tons of dried manure daily, but only around 10 tons of dried manure have are put to good use daily.
"We hope that in the future, organic fertilizer will replace chemical fertilizer," said Edy Suharyanto.
