Fajarasia.co – The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia (Kementan RI) continues to encourage the use of organic fertilizers among farmers. This is done to improve the quality of agricultural land in Indonesia.
The Indonesian Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo said that the use of organic fertilizers was a solution in the process of rehabilitating agricultural land, as well as reducing land degradation or degradation.
“Organic fertilizers can improve soil structure, strengthen the binding capacity of soil aggregates (nutrients), increase water resistance and absorption, and improve drainage and pores in the soil. Besides that, it also provides plant nutrients,” he said in an official statement received by the Editor, Jakarta, Tuesday (28/6/2022).
Syahrul explained, excessive and continuous use of inorganic fertilizers is the cause of land quality degradation in Indonesia. As a result, soil fertility decreases, because the organic matter content of rice fields is less than 2 percent.
To overcome this, the Ministry of Agriculture has implemented programs that accelerate the use of organic fertilizers among farmers. Among them are through the Organic Fertilizer Processing Unit (UPPO) and organic fertilizer assistance.
The UPPO program aims to accelerate the development of organic fertilizer application at the farmer level. With this assistance, farmers can produce organic fertilizer independently and use it to increase agricultural production.
In addition, the UPPO program is also expected to increase farm cost efficiency and optimize the use of manure.
“Of course, the hope is that this can increase the use of organic fertilizers at the farmer level, increase the optimization of the use of organic fertilizers, increase productivity and quality of production, and reduce farming costs as a result of efficient use of fertilizers,” said Syahrul.
The UPPO assistance for farmer groups is in the form of a compost house and fermentation tank, a communal cage, eight cows, organic fertilizer processing equipment (APPO) and three-wheeled vehicles.
Even so, the Ministry of Agriculture does not mean to encourage the substitution of chemical fertilizers to organic fertilizers in total. Therefore, farmers must be balanced in using the two fertilizers so that the land is healthy so that production increases and productivity shoots up.
“We encourage the use of fertilizers in a balanced way because the nutrients needed by plants are also in inorganic fertilizers. So, the two must be balanced,” said Syahrul.
Meanwhile, Director of Fertilizers and Pesticides at the Directorate General of PSP of the Ministry of Agriculture, Muhammad Hatta, said that the Ministry of Agriculture fully supports various efforts to increase the use of organic fertilizers.
“So far, we have made efforts to go organic through several activities, one of which is UPPO,” he said.
The stimulus for UPPO assistance is basically to help farmers produce manure independently. That way, farmers are no longer confused when they want to use organic fertilizers.
“The need for manure or compost increases every year. The facilitation of UPPO assistance is to help farmer groups meet their organic fertilizer needs,” Hatta added.****
