Comments: Switching to organic fertilizer

April 10, Online: Farmers in Banten were told to switch to using organic fertilizer, in accordance with a central government policy to increase the prices of subsidized non-organic fertilizer by up to 35 percent.
Agus M. Tauchid, the head of the provincial agriculture and husbandry agency, said Saturday that the local administration could not do much to oppose the central government policy on the price hike.
“Utilizing local sources with the use of organic fertilizer is a wise step in response to the price increase plan,” he said.

Your comments:

I do not think that using the organic fertilizer is a good option in the long run. Using it has its disadvantages.
Usually, dying plants or plants with severe nutrient deficiency will need minerals quickly, and this cannot be achieved by with organic fertilizers because of the slow release of their nutrients.
It is also nitrogen depleting, where nitrogen in the soil will be used up at a faster rate compared to the other nutrients in organic soil.
Furthermore, it is not easy to locate these organic fertilizers. Some areas do not provide these materials, and because of the lack of organic fertilizers sold, prices of these fertilizers are high, increasing the costs for farmers, and thus their selling costs.
This will have an impact on the people. As some people are already struggling to buy their food, they will suffer greatly when it comes to price increases.
Finally, making organic fertilizers instead of buying it can be very displeasing to many farmers because it requires some form of specialized skills.

Kenny Lee
Jakarta

In the first stage, adopting organic agriculture may be slow. It takes about 10 years to make the soil free of non-organic pesticides. But most of all, a firm stance is needed. Those farmers must be given proper information about it.

Achi Hoashi
Jakarta