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Govt to build fertilizer plant in West Papua with 2027 operation target
The global fertilizer shortage has prompted the government to develop a new fertilizer production facility in West Papua that will start operating in 2027, with a dual aim to reinvigorate the agriculture industry in the country’s eastern regions.
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A person shows the organic fertilizer produced by Magalarva, a Jakarta-based organic waste processing start-up, in this photo taken in 2019. (Magalarva/File)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced on Monday that the government planned to build a fertilizer production facility in Fakfak regency, West Papua, to respond to a global shortage, which has been blamed on Western-led sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
“There’s a worldwide fertilizer shortage now. When there’s a lack of supply, the price obviously goes up,” said Jokowi on Monday, as quoted by Tempo. The President added that the majority of raw materials for fertilizer came from Russia.
The sanctions against Russia have complicated bank transactions with the country, as well as Russian shipments of export commodities, hindering their supply to global markets.
Jokowi explained that the plan to increase domestic production of fertilizer was a response to the commodity’s disrupted global supply chain.
He added that the government had recently inaugurated a facility in Aceh under the management of PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda (PIM), a subsidiary of state-owned fertilizer holding company PT Pupuk Indonesia.
The PIM website says the company manages four factories that produce different types of fertilizer with a combined yearly output of around 1.6 million tonnes.
The President said that this was insufficient to fulfill domestic demand, however, so the government planned to build a new factory in West Papua.
