Petrogres eyes chance to set up organic fertilizer firms outside Java

Surabaya, East Java (ANTARA News) - Fertilizer manufacturer PT Petrokimia Gresik (Petrogres) has been studying a plan to set up organic fertilizer factories in some areas outside Java, a spokesperson has said.

The high demand for organic fertilizer outside Java has encouraged PT Petrogres to have the plan, Petrogres director Arifin Tasrif said here.

"Before realizing the plan we should study some aspects including raw materials for organic fertilizer. Lampung province seems to be a right place to set up the organic fertilizer factory as it has enough raw materials," he said.

Raw materials for organic fertilizer are manure and sugarcane wastes, he said, adding that an organic fertilizer factory needs an investment value of Rp1 billion to produce 10 tons of organic fertilizer per day.

Until now, he said, Petrogres has already set up 20 organic fertilizer firms dubbed Petroganik in 20 districts in East Java.

Arifin said eight of the Petroganic firms have already operated commercially while the 12 others are under an equipment fabrication process.

"We hope we could set up 30 other Petroganic firms in East Java this year as both investors and farmers are really demanding for more organic fertilizer firms and organic fertilizer price is far lower than that of the chemical one," he said.

Organic fertilizer is sold at Rp1,400-Rp1,500 per kg while inorganic one at Rp2,500 per kg.

Meanwhile, in an inauguration of five Petroganik firms in East Java`s district of Magetan, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said the government planned to make the use of organic fertilizer to the utmost to reduce the dependence on chemical fertilizer.

Anton, however, did not say whether or not the government would subsidize the making of organic fertilizer as it had done for the inorganic fertilizer production.