SURABAYA - PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) is ready to take firm action against official kiosks that are proven to be distributing subsidized fertilizer outside of government regulations. This followed the disclosure by the Lumajang Police, East Java, who managed to thwart the smuggling of 10 tons of subsidized fertilizer by an official Farming Business kiosk originating from Kalibendo Village, Pasiran District, Lumajang Regency, East Java.

Pupuk Indonesia's VP of Regional 4 Sales, Rizki Candra, said that currently his company has frozen the Farming Business kiosk from subsidized fertilizer distribution activities. Rizki said that his party has never hesitated to give strict sanctions to official kiosks proven to be involved in subsidized fertilizer abuse.

"We have frozen the kiosk, and are ready to support law enforcement officers. If proven guilty, we will not hesitate to terminate the collaboration," said Rizki.

Rizki further explained that his party had coordinated with distributors so that the remaining distribution allocation at the Farming Business kiosk could be transferred to the nearest official kiosk so that farmers could still be served. Thus, the process of redemption of fertilizer by eligible farmers can run without interruption due to the freezing of the Farming Business kiosk.

Based on information from the Lumajang Police, the perpetrator was caught selling 10 tons of subsidized fertilizer consisting of Urea and NPK fertilizers on Jalan Dusun Karanganyar, Kalibendo Village, Pasiran District. In addition, kiosk owners also take advantage by selling subsidized fertilizer above the Highest Retail Price (HET).

Therefore, Rizki appreciates the efforts and performance of the Lumajang Police in uncovering cases of subsidized fertilizer abuse. His party admitted that they would continue to coordinate with law enforcement officials in order to improve supervision of the distribution of subsidized fertilizers.

Rizki also appealed to his entire distribution network, starting from authorized distributors and kiosks throughout Indonesia, not to try to take illegal actions in distributing subsidized fertilizers. Because subsidized fertilizers are goods under government supervision. So that its circulation is monitored by law enforcement officials, starting from the police, prosecutors, military, to local governments.

"The community can also participate in supervising the distribution of subsidized fertilizers. If there is anything suspicious, don't hesitate to report it to law enforcement officers," he said.

In addition, to improve governance in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers to eligible farmers, currently Pupuk Indonesia and the Ministry of Agriculture have implemented kiosk digitization. Currently, kiosk digitization has been successfully tested in 5 provinces, namely Bali, Aceh, Bangka Belitung , South Kalimantan, and Riau. In the future, kiosk digitization will be implemented in all regions of Indonesia, including East Java.

"With the digitization of kiosks, the subsidized fertilizer redemption process is recorded digitally and can be tracked in real time, so that it will facilitate supervision by the government and producers," he said.