Zaenal Soedjais
Chairman, Indonesia Fertilizer Council, Jakarta Indonesia
Jl. Pattimura No. 61 Jakarta 10210 INDONESIA
Roberto Akyuwen
Senior Lecturer, Finance Education and Training Center Yogyakarta
Ministry of Finance Republic Indonesia
Jl. Solo Km 11 Kalasan, Sleman, Yogyakarta 55571 INDONESIA
Abstract
Since 1950s, the green revolution has brought a significant change in the agriculture production system all over the world. Land productivity has been increased sharply in many countries and various kinds of foods were more available for people. However, after four decades, the implementation of green revolution techniques have emerged severe environmental problems. One of the main causes of these problems was the intensive used of inorganic fertilizer among farmers. Agriculture land quality was started to decline and the productivity of crops per unit of inputs was also decreased in many countries. Besides, the development of environmental friendly agriculture, i.e. organic farming, was neglected. Indonesia has experienced those phenomenons. By implementing the green revolution techniques, the food self-sufficient has been achieved by Indonesia at the beginning of 1980s with the support of various government policies and programs, including inorganic fertilizer subsidy. Since 1990s, the use of inorganic fertilizer was more intensive by paddy farmers, especially in Java Island. This research is aimed to analyze the impacts of inorganic fertilizer subsidy and the organic farming development in Indonesia. The primary data were collected through the questionnaire surveys in Sragen, Central Java (178 respondents) and Bantul, Yogyakarta Province (70 respondents). The focused group discussion and interviews were also conducted by involving 50 respondents. The secondary data were gathered from various relevant institutions. The result shows that the inorganic fertilizer subsidy policy formulation was not undertaken comprehensively and the farmer’s welfare tends to be disregarded. The subsidy has encouraged farmers to use the inorganic fertilizer higher than the appropriate dose. This has damaged the lands and environment and reducing the capacity of long-term food security. The farmers often bought the inorganic fertilizers at higher price than the formal retail price. The inorganic fertilizer supply was determined by the size of paddy land, while the demand was influenced by the dry un-hulled paddy price, size of paddy land, and economic condition. The inorganic fertilizer has influenced the paddy production together with the dry un-hulled paddy price, size of paddy land, and number of worker in agriculture sector. Meanwhile, the organic agriculture was in great potential to develop based on the abundant raw materials, market prospects, lower input costs, capability to maintain and improve land quality and environmental preservation, securing long-term food supply, increasing farmer’s income, and consumer preferences of healthy foods. However, the government commitment was relatively low in supporting the organic agriculture development in Indonesia.
Keywords: inorganic fertilizer, organic agriculture, subsidy.
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