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Ganjar to tackle fertilizer shortage through foreign partnerships
While on a campaign tour through Central Java, his former governorship, Ganjar promised to tackle the nationwide fertilizer shortage by sourcing raw materials through trade deals and other international cooperation.
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Presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo (third left, in cap) greets farmers on Dec. 2, 2023 while on the campaign trail in Demak, Central Java. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)
Presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo has told potential voters during his Central Java campaign tour that he plans to engage in international partnerships to tackle the nationwide shortage of fertilizers, especially subsidized fertilizers.
On Thursday in Kutukan village, Blora regency, he highlighted Indonesia’s potential to obtain raw materials to produce fertilizer from other countries, such as through foreign trade deals and other forms of international cooperation.
"There are raw materials for fertilizer that can be sourced from other countries,” said Ganjar.
The former Central Java governor also pointed out that fertilizer production also used gases, “so the gas resources available in Indonesia can be prioritized for fertilizer production".
The country needed at least three new fertilizer plants to meet farmers’ need for both subsidized and nonsubsidized fertilizers across the archipelago, he said on Tuesday while campaigning in Demak.
"If we don't address the [fertilizer] shortage now, it could pose a danger to the future of agricultural production," he added, promising to increase the fertilizer subsidy for greater access and productivity.
Ganjar also noted that the fertilizer shortage affected not only Central Java, saying that he had heard complaints about the availability of subsidized fertilizers while on the campaign trail in several provinces.
Earlier on Tuesday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo touched on the fertilizer shortage at a gathering of tens of thousands of farmers at Satria Sports Hall in Purwokerto, the capital of Banyumas regency in Central Java.
The President told farmers that the government was facing challenges in obtaining raw materials to make fertilizer, especially the subsidized fertilizers distributed by state-owned company PT Pupuk Indonesia.
He said this was in part due to the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war, which had driven up the prices of raw materials for fertilizer.
