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Govt pushes for clean tech in fertilizer production
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Food for food: A farmer applies dry fertilizer to a paddy field in Sawit, Boyolali, Central Java, on March 1, 2024. The government has allocated a total of 9.55 tonnes of subsidized fertilizer for distribution nationwide throughout 2024. (Antara/Aloysius Jarot Nugroho)
T
he government is encouraging the domestic fertilizer industry to develop cleaner technologies for its production processes, Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto has said.
Airlangga made the statement while visiting the headquarters of state-owned fertilizer firm PT Pupuk Kaltim in Bontang, East Kalimantan, on Tuesday.
“The goal of building fertilizer plants is not to develop the petrochemical industry but to increase rice production. Without fertilizer there would have not been an agricultural revolution,” Airlangga said.
“The development of fertilizer plants tended to slow after the [1998] Reform movement, while in fact a plant for such a capital-extensive industry creates jobs for people living around the facility.”
Airlangga said Pupuk Kaltim could play a significant role in developing clean technology to produce fertilizers.
Pupuk Kaltim is a subsidiary of state-owned fertilizer holding company PT Pupuk Indonesia, which is responsible for distributing 9.5 million tonnes of subsidized fertilizer this year, more than double the initial allotment.
The government has also added another Rp 7.1 trillion (US$453 million) to the Rp 26.6 trillion fertilizer subsidy budget for this year, which is expected to help ease fertilizer shortages.
