Harvest Time
Biogas Generation and Durabloom Production at Wellisa Farms
By Sosimo Ma. Pablico
THE PHILIPPINES won’t have much problem with methane gas emission if poultry and swine farms have their own biogas digesters for swine and use the sludge together with the poultry manure for the production of bio-organic fertilizer. Just like what Wellisa Farms in Bantayan Island and Consolacion Cebu is doing.
Owned and managed by a relatively young Chinoy, Wellington Chanlim, Wellisa Farms is a franchisee of Novatech Agri-Food Industries whose main processing plant is in Sta. Ignacia, Tarlac. As one of the franchisees of Novatech, Wellisa Farms also produces the bio-organic fertilizer Durabloom. This fertilizer is now making waves in Mindanao, as users spread the word about its effectiveness in corn, rice, sugarcane, and fruit crops.
Wellisa Farms hog farm in Bantayan now has a large machine imported from China that uses methane gas for the generation of electricity for the farm. The machine is an immediate attraction to visitors from Mindanao in search of first hand information on the manufacture of Durabloom. Energy generation is now more efficient and economical with the new machine.
Around the filtration tanks, we noted a more intensive collection, drying and bagging of sludge that would be used as a component in the manufacture of Durabloom. Recycled water from the filtration tanks pour down on a large cemented tank and is being used for cleaning the hogs and their pens. At Wellisa Farms, practically nothing goes to waste.
At the Durabloom fertilizer plant where all the sludge and chicken manure of Wellisa Farms in Bantayan Island are brought, processing of the bio-organic fertilizer has been intensified as shown by the storage area in the plant and Wellisa’s warehouses scattered all over the island practically spilling to the brim, so to speak.
No doubt, this is in anticipation of the increasing demand for Durabloom, most especially in Mindanao where the fertilizer is used in the production of corn, sugarcane, and banana. It is also used for fruit crops and coffee at the Menzi Farms in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon. The visiting barangay captains from Pangantucan, Bukidnon, who are also farmers, said they will encourage other farmers in their barangays to use Durabloom.
They also saw the excellent performance of corn applied only with Durabloom at the Wellisa Farms. Chanlim said 8 hectares in the unoccupied areas of the farms were planted to corn this season. These demonstrate the efficacy of Durabloom.
In Bantayan Island alone, Wellisa Farms has about 300,000 layers which excrete a lot of manure daily. Chanlim said the manure has to be processed into fertilizer otherwise they would be drowned in the manure, not in the sea. Actually, it took only a couple of hours for Wellington to confer with Dr. Rene Sumaoang, president and CEO of Novatech Agri-Food Industries, before a franchise contract was signed the following morning.
In Tubod, Consolacion, mainland Cebu where Wellisa Farms uses methane gas in the manufacture of egg trays, poultry and hog manure are used for biogas generation. A dump truck with a two-ton capacity delivers manure from the nearby layer farm to the biogas digester (which is underground) nine times a day for the production of methane gas and sludge. The sludge is also processed into bio-organic fertilizer Durabloom.
An elevated biogas digester with a capacity of 110 cu m is now being constructed and shall be already operational soon.
More egg trays are being made everyday as the old battered machine has been replaced by a modern set imported from China. The newly processed egg trays are further dried under the sun. Other farms now get egg trays from Wellisa Farms.
Before a franchise with Novatech was signed, Chanlim was afraid Bantayan Island in no time at all would get drowned by the voluminous poultry and hog manure produced everyday. Considered the egg basket of Cebu, Bantayan Island has at least 3 million birds laying eggs everyday. Chanlim said his fear vanished with biogas generation and Durabloom production.
(Readers may reach columnist at spablico@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/harvest-time/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)
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