Sagada farmers have been engaged in vegetable cash-crop production while retaining the indigenous farming methods, particularly in planting rice.   

“Bio Green is a microbial organic fertilizer which would address the agrochemical dependent farmers and acidic-turned farms in the vegetable- and rice-producing areas of the Cordillera, explained agricultural engineer Jerry Gonzales,” a partner of MRDC in the Bio Green project.  

He explained that as microbial fertilizer, it contains millions of beneficial microbes that fix nitrogen from the air, solubilize phosphates and other soil nutrients, and control the growth of soil-borne plant pathogens which causes diseases.  

“The fertilizer is environment-friendly as it does not cause soil acidity and non-toxic water and atmosphere,” Gonzales told Nordis after the demonstration, adding that it has high NPK (Nitrogen, Phosporous, and Potassium) needed during seedling root development and survival. 

“t is also a soil conditioner that can improve soil structure, increase soil ability to hold water and nutrients, and provide better aeration,” added Gonzales, an advocate of organic farming.  

Agro-chemical inputs’ effects

Organic farming advocates have been campaigning for organic farming as an alternative to agro-chemical and rehabilitation of the chemical addicted soil recorded in both the vegetable and rice farming areas in the region.  

MRDC researchers said that Cordillera farmers have been engaged in conventional practice with the use of synthetic chemical fertilizers, raw or unprocessed organic fertilizer – such as chicken dung – which aggravate soil destruction and acidity and contribute to the prevalence of pest and diseases.  

“These result in declining crop yields in addition to the rising costs of imported inputs such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides and contend with unstable price of their products,” they added.  

They also observed that due to the use of these agro-chemical inputs, the soil acidity in the region dropped to 4.0 to 4.8 ph level from the ideal 6.5 to 7 ph. They pointed out that indiscriminate and excessive use of acid-forming ammoniacal chemical fertilizers had worsened soil acidity.  

An average of 500 tons of fungicide, 500,000 liters of pesticides and 15,000 tons of commercial fertilizers had been disposed yearly in the vegetable belt in the region alone, noted MRDC. These amount to half a billion pesos, the MRDC stated.  

Bio Green application

The MRDC-Gonzales partnership is considered timely as it tries to campaign for soil rehabilitation in the agro-chemical dependent areas while trying to maintain natural soil fertility through organic farming.  

Gonzales added that they are all set to submit a sample of their product to the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority under the Department of Agriculture (FPA-DA) and they plan for mass production this November or December.  

He declined to elaborate on the other contents of the fertilizer. The product will be registered under the partnership of MRDC and Gonzales.  Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat

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