Chairman of the Aceh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Muhammad Iqbal received a visit from PT Pupuk Indonesia (PT PI) and PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda (PT PIM) to explore partnerships in order to increase productivity in the agricultural sector, on Thursday 27 June 2024 at the Balee Saudagar Aceh Building, Banda Aceh.

Muhammad Iqbal revealed that Aceh has approximately 242,819 hectares of oil palm plantations managed by the community with an annual production of 444,436 tonnes in 2020 and more than 60 Crude Palm Oil (CPO) mills.

"The West Coast of Aceh is the largest oil palm plantation area in Aceh, so it is very worthy of the attention of fertiliser producers (PT PI, etc.) regarding the contribution of fertilisers to the productivity of oil palm plantations in Aceh, especially plasma plantations, or smallholder plantations," he said.

Muhammad Iqbal also added that the marketing mechanism of fertilisers in the country and export destinations also needs to be simplified so that it is more easily accessible to distributor partners, and also partner partners (vendors).

Vice President of Plantation I, PT PI, Khairudin in his presentation conveyed the development of Indonesia's fertiliser production and distribution system. Production capacity up to the current year 2024, reached 14 million tonnes. The capacity, he continued, consists of urea fertiliser production of 9.4 million tonnes and NPK of 4.4 million tonnes. Not only that, PT PI also produces chemicals in the form of ammonia amounting to 7 million tonnes. With the achievement of ammonia production, PT Pupuk Indonesia placed the state-owned company as the largest ammonia producer in Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa. The biggest competitor is Qatar Gas with a production capacity of 3 million tonnes of ammonia worldwide. PT Pupuk Indonesia is ranked in the top six.

Still on production, this nitrogen-based fertiliser has a significant contribution to the productivity of agricultural products by 56 per cent, other elements, namely phospate, contribute to agricultural productivity by 29 per cent and potassium 15 per cent.

For production and logistics systems, PT PI controls the production of its various subsidiaries in several regions including PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda. While for marketing and distribution through its subsidiary PT Pupuk Indonesia Niaga which is divided into two segments namely PSO (Public Service Obligation) Fertiliser, which is subsidised and Commercial fertiliser. All production is sourced from holding members namely PT Pupuk Sriwidjaja Palembang, PT Pupuk Kujang, PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda, PT Petrokimia Gresik and PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur.

Meanwhile, PT PIM as a subsidiary of PT PI, said that its production has now increased with the completion of the construction of an NPK plant with a capacity of 500 thousand tonnes per year and also the re-operation of the PIM-1 Urea Plant with a capacity of 570 thousand tonnes.

PT PIM currently has an Agro Consultant division that can be a partner for smallholders to consult to get the ideal fertiliser concept and composition with soil conditions, climate and crop types.

Chairman of Kadin Aceh, Foreign Affairs Standing Committee and Executive Director of Kadin Aceh, Teuku Jailani said, so far PT PIM and Kadin Aceh have also fostered good partnerships, one of which is through the Communication Forum for Training Institutions with Industry (FKLPID) BPVP Ministry of Manpower RI, Banda Aceh, in the CSR (TJSLP) and Public Relations programmes, namely in the form of vocational training to the community in the PT PIM environment.

"We hope that in the future we can further enhance cooperation in other fields, such as vendor partners and fertiliser distributors for Kadin members," said Teuku Jailani.