Pelleted Organic Fertilizer Is Good

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/388049/pelleted-organic-fertilizer-is-good#.UPd_Gh2grh4

Agri Plain Talk

By ZAC B. SARIAN

January 2, 2013, 6:41pm

It pays to pelletize organic fertilizer. That’s the conclusion of Dr. Rene Sumaoang of Novatech, a leading manufacturer of organic fertilizer.

As early as three years ago, he was already thinking of pelletizing his Durabloom fertilizer. He was already negotiating with a manufacturer in an ASEAN country for a unit.

Since the machine costs a lot of money, he did not push through with the idea because he said he was not sure if the farmers will patronize organic fertilizer in pellet form.

What he did was to have his fertilizer pelleted by a toll manufacturer. The capacity is quite low, however. Only 2,000 bags a month.

Now, Dr. Sumaoang is convinced that it is now time to buy the pelleting machine. He has observed that the rice farmers really love the Durabloom pellets.

In rice farming, organic fertilizer is applied as a basal fertilizer. It is applied during land preparation or just before transplanting. The problem with the loose organic fertilizer (not pelleted), is that it may be carried away if there is an overflow of water, which is quite often. Thus, a lot of the nutrients is lost.

In the case of the pellets, they readily sink in the mud so that they are not carried away by the water overflow.The pellets can even be applied a few days from planting. They can be broadcasted at the right time when there no overflow of water. The pellets will readily sink in the mud.

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TOO MUCH MONEY CAN BE DANGEROUS – In farming, an overflowing cash is not a guarantee of success. In fact, it can be dangerous.

Let me cite the case of a young congressman who has a lot of money. When he learned that hot chili was selling at P 400 to P500 per kilo, he was immediately attracted by the prospects of big profits. (Actually, the price could escalate to as high as a thousand pesos per kilo during periods of scarcity.)

What did he do? He spent a lot of money to plant six hectares to hot chili somewhere north of Manila. It is no joke to plant six hectares of hot pepper. The seeds cost a lot, so is the land preparati on, the fertilizers, pesticides and the manpower to take care of planting, caring, harvesting and other chores.

Unfortunately for the politician, the price per kilo when he started harvesting was only P15 per kilo. When the price did not improve after sometime, he thought of just abandoning the plants to wither. He surmised that taking care of them will just result in more losses.

The lesson here is that the politico should have started his project more modestly. Say a hectare for a start. He should have made a serious study of the nature of the hot chili market before embarking on a big project.

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PAPAYA TASTES LIKE MANGO – Ric Reyes of East-West Seed tells us that a seed company in Thailand has developed a hybrid papaya that tastes like mango. The fruits are small, less than a kilo to one kilo each.

The developer, he said, is reluctant to commercialize the hybrid because the flesh is yellow. In Thailand, Ric said, the preferenceof consumers is the red-fleshed variety.

But that should suit the Philippines well. Local consumers don’t mind patronizing yellow-fleshed papaya as long as the eating quality is good.

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INTEREST IN POWER GROWER COMBO – After the story about the doubling of sugarcane yield through the application of Power Grower Combo, a lot of sugarcane growers are showing keen interest. One doctor from Negros Occidental who has a big sugarcane plantation is interested to try it initially on ten hectares.

Other interested readers would like to use them in their rice farms. Just like Marino de Leon of Malolos who has ordered a dozen packs to use them in his rice farm.

Other farmers in Cagayan Valley, Pangasinan and elsewhere are going to use the special fertilizer developed by Alfonso G. Puyat in their vegetable farms.