IO, Bandung – Students from the Faculty of Agriculture (Faperta), Padjadjaran University (Unpad) Bandung, have won a First Place in the Scientific Writing Competition (LKTI) in Agricultural Innovation Technology at the Kujang Fest 2020 event with the theme “Real Evidence of Fertilizer and Agriculture Transformation” in Karawang, West Java. Muhammad Kholil Masruri, Sri Muji Rahayu, and Adinda Lailatus Sa’diyyah, with the guidance Unpad Faculty of Agriculture lecturer Dr. Rija Sudirja, M.T., submitted a paper entitled “Agrapana: Modification of Urea Fertilizer, Active Charcoal, Gypsum, and Hay Agent Compost for Optimizing Saline Rice Fields in West Java”.
Kholil explained, as quoted by the Unpad Public Communication Office, Monday (3/16/2020), how the fertilizer was a modification of N fertilizer or nitrogen-containing fertilizer with a special ameliorant to optimize rice production in saline land – tidal land that has been submerged under seawater for more than three months.
“These fertilizer products and formulations are also enriched with Azotobacter bacteria as N-fixing bacteria and ameliorant which function as soil modifiers,” Kholil said.
He added that this modified fertilizer has been proven to reduce farmers’ needs for N fertilizer, which is an expensive inorganic variety. Besides, this fertilizer is expected to improve the fertility of saline land, to increase rice productivity in Indonesia. “This could be a solution in agriculture to maintain food security in Indonesia,” he said.
Kujang Fest 2020 is an event held by PT Pupuk Kujang Indonesia in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture. The LKTI event was conceived to provide concrete evidence of the development of the evolution of fertilizer and agricultural production. (*/EST)