Farmers use bio-organic fertilizer for higher yield

By Sosimo Ma. Pablico

More farmers in Mindanao and Visayas are now encouraged to use  the locally produced bio-organic fertilizer Durabloom on corn, sugarcane, banana, rice and fruit  trees, as local suppliers attest to its effectiveness.

For instance, farmer-farm input supplier Ric Allado of Malinao, Banisilan, Bukidnon takes pride in telling corn and sugarcane farmers that Durabloom has been responsible in increasing his yields and farm income.  Marites Garay of Don Carlos town likewise tells her buyers about the positive results of Durabloom application (10 bags a hectare) to one of her farms that used to yield very poorly.

Garay expects to sell 25,000 bags of Durabloom for the first corn season this year, a big leap from the 6,000 bags she sold last year. This amount is only good for one-fourth of the area cultivated by farmers whom she provides with farm inputs on credit.  She expects to make at least a similar order for the second crop. 

While Allado sold only 1,500 bags last year, he has already ordered 10,000 bags for the first crop, which is expected to be planted soon after the rains come in late May or early June.  This volume is only good for 1,000 hectares, but he expects a bigger order for the second crop if the rains come early. 

Allado said the succeeding order next year will be much bigger as farmers witness the beneficial effects of Durabloom, which is produced by Novatech Agri-Food Industries.  He tells farmers they would get higher yield and save on fertilizer cost by using Durabloom.  In Banisilan alone, almost 15,000 hectares are planted to corn and farmers who get their inputs from him.

Steve Enterina of Kalilangan, Bukidnon did not sell the bio-organic fertilizer last year, but used it on sugarcane and the results encourage him to sell the product this year.  Like Allado, he has ordered 10,000 bags, as he also provides farm inputs on credit to more than 300 farmers.

Cane planters in Bukidnon and Talisay City, Negros Occidental are equally bullish on the use of Durabloom, as the planters’ cooperatives have already ordered much more than last year.

Danilo Lim, general manager of Southern Bukidnon Cooperative Planters Association, said his sugar yield has increased due to Durabloom application.  His sugar yield (picul sugar per ton of cane or PS/TC) dramatically rose from 1.3 last year to 1.76 this year.  The PS/TC of another member also increased from 1.5 last year to 1.8 – 1.9 this year due to the application of 10 bags of Durabloom per hectare.

In Pangantucan, Bukidnon, the sugar yield of newly elected mayor Manolito Garces, who is a member of the Bukidnon Integrated Planters Association which has ordered 10,000 bags, rose from 1.8 – 2.0 last year to 2.2 – 2.5 this year. Durabloom application last year and this year increased his yield and income, which is why he promotes the product to other farmers.

The canes of Garces at the slope of Mt. Salimbal, an active volcano, were a sharp contrast to those in a nearby field where the canes hardly grew without the bio-organic fertilizer.  Both fields were reportedly planted almost at the same time but the canes in the other field had a few short nodes.

At Hacienda Sta. Teresita in Talisay City, farm manager Calib Nervis said cane harvest from fields applied with Durabloom was 10 tons a hectare higher than those from fields applied with another organic fertilizer that has been in the market since the 70s.  The yield difference is equivalent to 20 bags of sugar per hectare worth P20,000.  This would amount to millions of additional income in large sugarcane plantations.

Rice in this hacienda applied with 10 bags Durabloom a hectare yielded 120 bags per hectare, which was 40 bags higher than those applied with another organic fertilizer.  In another field, Durabloom use also produced 149 bags a hectare from PSB Rc18.

On banana applied with Durabloom, Garces has been harvesting 1.3 boxes of fruits per bunch (13.5 kg/box) from nine-month old plants since February.  He said it is more advantageous to use odorless Durabloom because it is made entirely from chicken manure completely decomposed by Biosec, another product of Novatech.   

In Tubod, Lanao del Norte, the local government unit has encouraged 480 beneficiaries of a special project in 24 barangays (1 hectare per barangay) to fertilize their banana with Durabloom.  Supported by an international donor, the project serves landless agricultural workers and tenants.  The recipients initially resisted the bio-organic fertilizer but are now happy with the performance of their crops.  Initially, they thought it may be like other organic materials that attract nematodes and weevils, which destroyed their crops.

At the Menzi Farms in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, Durabloom has been a standard fertilizer for durian (45 hectares), longcong (36 hectares), mangosteen (14 hectares), rambutan (6 hectares), corn (45 hectares), anthurium and lanzones long before it became popular in Mindanao, according to Lomel Nunag, plantation manager.

Menzi Farms’ corn yield has increased from 3.5 – 4 t/ha to 6 – 7 t/ha.  One agrarian reform beneficiary got 7.1 tons of dried grains a hectare.

“We won’t buy the second time around if we are not satisfied with Durabloom,” Nunag said.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/harvest-time/)

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