Subsidised fertilisers being sold to Indonesia plantations, not small farmers

Jakarta

MILLIONS of dollars worth of subsidised fertilisers meant for small Indonesian farmers are being sold to big plantations, such as palm oil and rubber, at huge profits by state-backed retailers, a government report shows.

A shortage of cheap fertilisers at a time when an El Nino weather event is threatening harvests could hurt food supplies in South-east Asia's largest economy, scuppering President Joko Widodo's self-sufficiency targets that are already under pressure due to rampant corruption in the farm sector.