Organic fertilizer gets LBP support

The Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) is backing the widespread use of the Masinag organic fertilizer following field tests that show it can raise palay output by 35 percent.

The LBP has collaborated with the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) and organized the Technology Promotions Committee (TPC) to ensure that the technology will be adopted immediately to meet rice self-sufficiency goal set by Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala.

Honesto Baniqued Jr., president of the National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor), is also backing the wider distribution of the technology and hopes that by year-end, more than 10,000 farmers in Central Luzon and other regions would be using Masinag, which was developed by chemist Frank Sta. Ana and had a modest launch in 2008.

Dr. Nenita de la Cruz of CLSU, a professor of soil sciences, said Pioneer Hybrid 71 rice plants treated with Masinag were taller, sturdier and more robust at 55 days after transplant (DAT) compared to other varieties.

De la Cruz said Masinag is a liquid organic fertilizer that can easily be absorbed by the roots of rice plants and even by the stem when it is applied on the plant itself.

The performance of Masinag is a far cry from the scandal-ridden foliar fertilizers distributed by former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocjoc Bolante, which has not been tested for rice and other crops, with critics insisting the fertilizer was only for horticultural purposes.

At the demo farm of Iniong Baguistan in Ayos Lomboy, Guimba, Nueva Ecija, the farmer raised his yield to 7.95 metric tons (MT) for one hectare using C-130 rice variety with only between one and two seeds per hill, compared to his one-hectare farm that used conventional fertilizer for the same rice variety which yielded only 5.75 MT.

Both fields used transplanted seedlings, had the same plant distances of 10 inches but differed in other respects.

For the conventional system, the number of seeds per hill ranged from three to five and used up two bags of seeds while the Masinag farm only used one bag.

Twelve bags of inorganic fertilizers were used for the conventional farm while only five bags of inorganic fertilizer and five liters of Masinag were applied to the other farm.