JAKARTA – PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) supports efforts to improve data and governance in the agricultural sector by digitalization. One of the things the Company does is through the REKAN application which can be used by distributors and kiosks to process retail, commercial, and subsidized fertilizer sales.

SVP Corporate Secretary of Pupuk Indonesia Wijaya Laksana said that his party had collaborated with the Agriculture and Food Security Office of Bali Province in implementing the REKAN application. In addition, Pupuk Indonesia is also collaborating with Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) to pilot digital cards in Aceh Besar Regency, Aceh Province since January 2023.

"This REKAN application trial activity is in the context of business transformation carried out by Pupuk Indonesia in the process of distributing fertilizers to registered farmers to be more organized and directed so that we support the development of a digital system in the agricultural sector," said Wijaya.

Transformasi digitalisasi melalui REKAN ini dapat diadopsi oleh para mitra Kios Pupuk Lengkap (KPL) guna mempermudah proses penebusan pupuk bersubsidi dari yang sebelumnya dilakukan secara manual. Dengan begitu, REKAN menjadi bagian dalam merapihkan manajemen distribusi, sekaligus meningkatkan fungsi pengawasan.

This REKAN application can also increase the speed of the verification and validation process of subsidized fertilizer distribution reports provided by Pupuk Indonesia so that it can be done in real time and easily.

"The REKAN application has benefits such as monitoring the amount of stock at kiosks in real time, being able to operate offline in remote areas, and making it easier for farmers to redeem subsidized fertilizers at kiosks. Therefore, Pupuk Indonesia supports the digitalization of the agricultural sector," he added.

As of March 2023, as many as 26,254 Complete Fertilizer Kiosks have implemented the REKAN application. Of these, only around 3,035 kiosk partners utilize the REKAN application in every fertilizer purchase or redemption transaction, especially non-subsidized fertilizers.

As stated by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). At the opening of the 2023 Agricultural Census, the number one person in Indonesia hopes that the Government can have accurate and quality data in the agricultural sector.

Improving agricultural sector data, said Jokowi, is very important considering that the sector contributes greatly to the Indonesian economy. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), 11.8 percent of the contribution of the agricultural sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"I support the implementation of the 2023 agricultural census, and I ask all stakeholders in the agricultural sector to succeed this census starting from June 1 to July 30, 2 months after that we get accurate and quality data," Jokowi said during the Launching of the 2023 Agricultural Census Implementation at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Monday (15/5/2023).

In addition to contributing greatly to GDP, the agricultural sector is also a large provider of employment. It is recorded that around 40 million people or about 29 percent of the total labor force are in the national agricultural sector. Therefore, he asked all stakeholders in the agricultural sector to succeed in the implementation of the 2023 Agricultural Census.