BREBES – PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero), through its subsidiary PT Pupuk Sriwidjaja Palembang, cooperates in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers with PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI). This collaboration is carried out as an effort to improve distribution reliability and anticipate land congestion ahead of the 2023 Eid homecoming and return flow.

President Director of Pupuk Sriwidjaja Tri Wahyudi Saleh welcomed the cooperation in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers with train transportation modes. The reason is, this collaboration is said to be able to speed up the distribution time. "If we use a truck, maybe it can be 4-5 hours from Cilacap, if this (train) 3 hours have arrived here (warehouse), on time," said Tri Wahyudi at the Inauguration of the Cooperation in Subsidized Fertilizer Transport Using Trains at the Prupuk Brebes Warehouse, Central Java, Tuesday (4/4/2023).

The distribution of subsidized fertilizers by train, said Tri Wahyudi, is also very effective and efficient. He explained, a series of trains consisting of 10 carriages with the amount of fertilizer transported around 300 thousand tons at once, or an estimate of 1 carriage carrying 30 tons. Tri hopes that this distribution cooperation with KAI can be expanded to other warehouses that are also passed by railway lines, especially in Central Java and East Java, as an effort to increase the speed of distribution and timeliness in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers.

"The issue that is widely circulated, fertilizer is not timely coming, so this is one solution to improve transportation modes. The capacity of this warehouse (GPP Brebes) is 10,000 tons, the stock here per day is 4,300 tons, it is quite maximum. In addition, the position is above 100% of the Government provisions (minimum stock) of 1,339 tons, so if there is an issue of rare fertilizers, there are many fertilizers, we show this to the community, "added Tri Wahyudi.

Meanwhile, SVP of Pupuk Indonesia Distribution, Veronika Trisna Sukmawati said that the collaboration in subsidized fertilizer transportation using trains is a tangible manifestation of Pupuk Indonesia in improving the reliability of distribution services in order to prepare stocks needed by farmers according to allocations from the Government.

Vero said that currently the cooperation in distributing subsidized fertilizers by train mode has been carried out in 4 (four) regions, namely Brebes, Kebumen, Klaten, and Sleman. "We hope that this collaboration will continue not only to stop this year and stop at the 4 warehouses but expand and improve distribution reliability, of course, this will fully contribute to food sovereignty," said Veronika.

According to Veronika, the distribution of subsidized fertilizers by train mode is a solution ahead of the 2023 Eid homecoming flow. In addition, railway facilities are also an additional distribution facility owned by Pupuk Indonesia.  The distribution facilities of Pupuk Indonesia group consist of 4 fertilizer bagging units, 6 Distribution Center (DC) units, 12 ships with 226 sea transportation routes, 7,931 land transportation trucks, 581 warehouses with a capacity of 2.48 million tons, as well as a network of more than 1,100 distributors and more than 26,000 official kiosks spread throughout Indonesia.

"We know that together with transportation by rail, of course, the effectiveness of transportation will be better than distributing via trucking by road, because the trucking capacity is much smaller than trains in one transportation, In addition, punctuality is more controlled because it is free from traffic congestion on the highway, with the distribution of trains, it is one of the innovations we do, where we can be effective, and as a form of adjustment to government policies related to Zero ODOL, "said Veronika.

As of March 31, 2023, Pupuk Indonesia has distributed subsidized fertilizers to Brebes amounting to 15,548 tons or 72% of the allocation until March 2023 of 21,629 tons. In detail, urea fertilizer has been distributed 11,338 tons and NPK fertilizer amounted to 4,210 tons. The annual allocation for subsidized fertilizers in Brebes Regency is 41,000 tons of Urea and 14,500 NPK. 

Meanwhile, currently the stock of subsidized fertilizers in all warehouses in the Brebes region currently reaches 8,712 tons. In details, urea fertilizer amounted to 7,352 tons, and NPK fertilizer amounted to 1,359 tons. The total stock of Urea &; NPK subsidies reached four times the minimum stock stipulated by the Government of 1,813 tons.

Pupuk Indonesia itself manages a total of 3 fertilizer warehouses in Brebes. Meanwhile, for Central Java, the number of warehouses managed reached 68 units with a total capacity of 346 thousand tons. In addition to Pusri Palembang, the distribution of subsidized fertilizers in Central Java is also carried out by another subsidiary of Pupuk Indonesia, namely Petrokimia Gresik.