Jakarta. Pupuk Indonesia announced Friday that it had helped boost rice productivity in Central Java's Blora regency by 17.2 percent with the subsidized organic fertilizer Petroganik.

On Friday, the state-run fertilizer company held a harvest campaign in Kamolan village in Blora. Previously, the local farmers' productivity only stood at 6.5 tons per hectare. However, according to Pupuk Indonesia, the plot of land that tried using the Petroganik fertilizer saw its productivity rise to 7.4 tons per hectare.

Pupuk Indonesia's marketing director Tri Wahyudi Saleh said that a combination of inorganic and organic fertilizers could give a significant boost to productivity.

"We from Pupuk Indonesia are educating farmers to use organic fertilizers in order to balance the use of organic and inorganic fertilizers. It has shown great results," Tri Wahyudi was quoted as saying in a press statement.

C-Organic content of agricultural land in Blora is still low at under 2 percent, according to the sample test results. The average agricultural land in Indonesia also has similar levels. A dose of 500 kilograms of Petroganik per hectare has improved the planting conditions. Pupuk Indonesia hopes that it can boost agricultural productivity, which will eventually help Indonesia become self-sufficient in food.

"We are partnering with the Agricultural Ministry and the regional government to support President Prabowo Subianto's food self-sufficiency goal," Tri Wahyudi said.

The pilot project also takes place in other regions.

This year, Blora has the second-largest subsidized fertilizer allocation in Central Java. The total allocation reaches 122,500 tons, consisting of 67,500 tons of Urea, 50,000 NPK Phonska, and 5,000 tons of organic fertilizers. The organic fertilizers that Blora receives are 10 percent of what Central Java gets, which reaches 50,341 tons.

To date, Pupuk Indonesia has distributed 27,208 tons of subsidized fertilizer. This is equivalent to 22 percent of the allocated fertilizers. The distribution rate in Central Java stands at 246,165 tons or 18 percent.

"Blora's absorption is ranked fifth nationally. Blora's absorption is above the national average absorption," said Tri Wahyudi.

About 44 percent of Blora's Petroganik organic fertilizers also already made their way to the local farmers.

Agriculture Ministry's fertilizer director Jekvy Hendra said that the use of Petroganik would not eliminate the use of chemical fertilizers, but act as a balancer. This way, the farmers can maintain soil sustainability.

"Blora has a high absorption of Petroganik organic fertilizers and is one of the highest in Indonesia. We must keep this up," Jekvy said.

Blora regent Arief Rohman said that he vowed to make the regency become one of Central Java's food barns.

"We hope more farmers will use Petroganik because the results are good," the regent said.

Pupuk Indonesia also held the so-called Rembuk Tani program to inform the farmers on how to access affordable fertilizers. The campaign also offered special discounts so they could improve their harvests efficiently.

The Rembuk Tani program included a promo for the Petroganik and Phonska Plus fertilizers. By making a minimum purchase of Rp 200,000, a farmer is entitled to a lottery coupon and has the opportunity to win many prizes.

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