Compost, liquid fertilizer from vegetable refuse

By Sosimo Ma. Pablico

The huge amount of vegetable refuse and other biomass generated everyday at trading posts, bagsakan centers and large public markets could very well be processed right away into compost and li-quid fertilizer that could be used in vegetable production. 

Profugo and Dr. Rene Sumaoang, president and general manager of Novatech Agri-Food Industries, said the liquid component of the biomass can also be processed quickly into liquid fertilizer in just a week.  Thus, LGUs (local government units) with vegetable trading posts or bagsakan centers could generate a lot of revenue by using this process.

The trading post in La Trinidad, Benguet, for instance, generates at least 30 tons of vegetable refuse everyday, according to an LGU engineer in this town. The volume of refuse could be more during peak periods.

According to Bayani L. Profugo, president and general manager of Bens Agribusiness Corporation, vegetable refuse and other biomass can be processed quickly into compost if its solid and liquid content are first separated from each other using a de-watering equipment. 

A machine developed by Profugo, the   Bayan Screw Press, can shred the vegetable refuse and other biomass into smaller particles and separate the liquid and solid components, leaving only 20 to 30 percent of the biomass as solid waste. The solid component is then dried under a processing shed and applied with Biosec to become compost in just a month. 

Dr. Rene Sumaoang, president and general manager of Novatech Agri-Food Industries, said the liquid component of the biomass can also be processed quickly into liquid fertilizer in just a week.  Thus, LGUs (local government units) with vegetable trading posts or bagsakan centers as well as those with large markets could generate a lot of revenue by using this process.  

Manufactured by Novatech, Biosec consists of immobilized beneficial microbes and potent digestive enzymes that would digest the solid waste into compost with a pleasant smell.. 

With 30 tons of refuse at the La Trinidad trading post daily, for example, about 10 tons of solid waste could be produced with the Bayan Screw Press. When processed with Biosec into fully decomposed compost, this would become 200 bags of compost.  Thus, the refuse in one month would produce a total 6,000 bags.  Even if the compost is sold at a low P150 a bag, this could mean a monthly income of P900,000 for the LGU or P10.8 million in a year.

The Bayan Screw Press can also be used in biogas systems and slaughterhouses, as well as in the processing of carrots and virgin coconut oil.

For higher pepper yield and income

Farmers who are planting Bontoc pepper, which is known in the Ilocos as aruy-oy a sili, may as well consider the results of a study conducted at the MMSU (Mariano Marcos State University)  in Batac, Ilocos Norte for higher yield and income.

Dionisio Bucao, an agricultural engineer, found that on a per hectare basis Bontoc pepper applied with 140 kg of nitrogen and 50 kg each of phosphorus and potassium, as well as irrigated at a   depth of 30 mm every seven days gave a yield of 12,800 kg.  The seedlings were planted in rows at a distance of 40 cm [centimeters] x 60 cm.   

Phosphorus and potassium were applied as basal fertilizer at 14 DAT [days after transplanting], while nitrogen was applied in three equal splits at 14, 35 and 65 DAT. 

To follow this practice, apply 7.14 bags of complete fertilizer at 14 DAT.  Then apply 2 bags of urea at 35 DAT, and another 2 bags of urea at 65 DAT. 

In the first fertilizer application, dibble the complete fertilizer at 5 cm away from the base of the seedlings.  In the second and third applications, apply urea near the base of the plants and then irrigate on the furrows at a depth of 30 millimeters.

At a farmgate price of P10 a kilo, 12,800 kg of Bontoc pepper would be valued at P120,800.  A net income of P91,155 is obtained after deducting the production cost of P29,644, resulting in a benefit-cost ratio [BCR] of 3.07.  Thus, every peso spent gets back a profit of P3.07.

Other fertilization and irrigation schemes also resulted in substantial but lower profits.  For example, Bontoc pepper applied with 210 kg nitrogen and 50 kg each of phosphorus and potassium, and irrigated at a depth of 30 mm at 11 days interval produced 11,233 kg/ha.  This resulted in a gross income of P112,330 per hectare, net profit of P85,121, and a BCR of 3.13.

This level of nitrogen fertilization, however, is not recommended because of the danger posed by nitrite and nitrate leaching into the ground water, which is now evident in some Batac farms.

Given a nitrogen fertilization rate of 140 kg/ha, a yield of 12,800 kg/ha is already way above the average yield – 2,950 kg/ha. In Batac the average yield is 4,100 kg/ha, but this is not even one-third of the yield level obtained in Bucao’s study.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/harvest-time/ Readers may reach columnist at spablico@yahoo.com . For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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