Agricultural Micronutrients : The Food Reserves
A new fertilization technology may prove to be a viable help in today’s middling sector.
Fertilizers are as important as seeds themselves. Their increasing cost may not do well with the erratic supply and demand, so farmers are stuck with a Php1400 worth of 18-46-0 and Php1000 urea. Doubling the price from a preceding half, and with a consequent of a higher crop price, the potential setback can be one domino over another: freight costs, competition to other agricultural countries, oil hikes, importation cuts and a paltry exportation rate.
In 1995, the prospects became better. It was called rhizocote, a micronutrient-rich blend which pointed towards micronutrient adequacy in soils that are either acidic or just plainly austere from being overused. The idea of biologically balancing what soils need to yield better crops was undermarketed, and so when it was launched in the same year, it garnered a lesser distinction than what might have been expected and went on to be in a state of development. Region III and IV DAR projects went on to become successful for Mr. Raymundo Calugcugan, inventor and Unladsaka Tech awardee. When it proved to be a viable alternative to chemical fertilizers, the 2004 flood in Central Luzon and Mindanao led to deficits that, says Mr. Calugcugan, “we (lid not get reimbursed from the farmers.”
Certainly enough, he referred to a voluntary work where loans were given to farmers and aiding them sail smoothly in producing better crops. Moving to Cojuangco plantations to become an advisor, reduction costs were 40%-50%, a feat which the rhizocote can more or less make a claim on, and his operations in Davao-Cadeco, Panday and Macopa among land-reform plan iations-have lengthened to Bacolod, Bataan and Pangasinan.
“What we do,” says Mr. Calugcugan, “is not just products. They’re good on their own right, but we should know how we can harmonize everything at the right time.” The technology that they’re trying to emphasize, therefore, rested on the basic that a better yield comes from underneath. Propagating what is known as Unladsaka, he stresses that his team is working out healthier ways to do so. By precisely understanding the right time at which the soil can be ready to be planted on, the project seems to answer unoriginal farming difficulties-with the rhizocote.
Of roots and food
Rhizocote (rhizo-root, cote-food reserve) is an anti-fixation formula activating native bio-nitrogen and mychorrizal fungi to make soils more fertile. Because a tropical Philippines can only photosynthesize within a 12-hour frame, productivity is lower than in temperate ones whose warmth doesn’t normally exceed what plants need, unlike ours (32°C-36°C), and more so, drying up nutrients off soils. With a warmer environ, organic matters are held back, altogether cultivating decomposers which eat away health from the soil and thus getting them acidic. Chemical fertilizers are also culprits, altogether flushing away 13 of 16 important micronutrients needed for the soil to furnish its seeds with better sustenance.
Justus von Liebig emphasizes this in his Law of the Minimum. One missing link leads to neutral middling growth. Unladsaka, claims Mr. Calugcugan, is a fertilization technology which capitalizes on photosynthesis through light absorption and interception, ensuring that every leaf and canopy are sunned. Rhizocote’s solubilizer acts more of a custom made technology that firstly considers the soil and the crop. While its contents don’t fixate on the soil, its biofertilizers, articulates Mr. Calugcugan, ” triggers nitrogen fixers’ activities so it can use the soil’s acidity as source for further nitrogen fixation.” Now used in bananas, mangoes and irrigated rice, rhizocote micronutrients warrants a 95,440 gross production income compared to an 81,600 from T1-Biozome.
Farming at best
Mr. Calugcugan’s seminar on Unladsaka: Crop Growing and Fertilization Technology at the 2008 Agraryo Fair provided some insights on balanced crop growing using rhizocote and the unladsaka farming.
For Transplanted Irrigated Rice
Firstly mix 8kg of urea, 10 tablespoons of rhizocote; add 5kg of triple14 next. Equally distribute and distribute the fertilizer to 400 sq. meter land, while also digging shallowly to provide for the fertilizer to be dissolved, and finally, sow the inbred seeds. In the 11th or 12th day, dissolve a sachet of rhizocote premix foliar to 16 liters of water and equally spray to the transplanted land. In the 18th to 20th day, expect the seeds to be ready for transplantation. To fertilize the land the seed will be transplanted on, firstly mix 1/2 bag of urea and 2 kg of rhizocote before adding 3 bags of triplei4. Forcefully apply the compost while the land is still moist and soft to allow the compost to settle one to two inches below from where the seeds will be planted. In the 16th to 2oth day, equally distribute the following mixture to allow the crops to equally elevate with the mother plant and primary tillers: for summer, firstly mix 1 bag of urea and 2kg of rhizocote before adding 2 bags of ammonium sulfate; for rainy seasons, firstly mix 1 bag of urea, and 2kg of rhizocote before adding 1 bag of ammonium sulfate. In the 31st to 35th day, where variety is 105 to 115 days maturing, or 38 to 42 days (where variety is longer), or 120 to 125 maturing days. The second topdressing should be firstly a mix of 2 kg of rhizocote and 1/2 bag of urea before adding 1 bag of triple14. Foliar fertilizing should be done in the 44th to 46th day before harvest. Mix a sachet of rhizocote to 16 liters of water for one knapsack sprayer load and spray to leaves. Target cavans should be 160 to 180 per hectare, with 59kg per cavan.
For Directly Seeded Irrigated
Rice-In the 12th to 15th day of distributing the seeds, firstly mix 3 kg. of rhizocote and 1 1/2 urea before adding 3 bags of triple 14. In the 45th to 48th day, with 110 days maturing, or in the 55th to 58th day, with 120 125 days maturing; firstly mix 4 kilos of rhizocote and 1 1/2 bags of urea before adding 2 bags of triplei4. For foliar fertilizing, dissolve a sachet of rhizocote pre-mixed foliar to 16 liters of water to crops whose core plants are not yet visible.
For Sugarcane
Targeting 190-240 Lkg per hectare, the first two weeks of planting after stubble shaving should have a mixture of 8 kilos of rhizocote and 4 bags of urea before adding 2 bags of 0-0-60 and 18-46-0, applying them on the crease before or during seed laying. In the 60th to 65th day, immediately before hilling up, firstly mix 4 bags of urea and 8 kilos of rhizocote before adding 4 bags of 0-0-60. This is for general soil.
For Corn
For basal fertilizing, mix 3 kilos of rhizocote and 1 bag of urea before adding 5 bags of triple 14 at planting, equally applying it on the crease, and covering the fertilizer with one-inch soil before plantation. For sidedress, mix 1 bag urea and 3 kilos of rhizocote before adding 2 bags of ammonium sulfate and 1/2 bag of muriate of potash, equally distributing near the base immediately before hilling up.
For Bitter Melon, Eggplant, Tomato and Atsal
Distribute 5 sacks of Nature’s Best Organic Compost to 1000 sq. meters to vegetable plot, putting organic compost to the holes to get the land friable. Distribute the compost before planting. For basal, mix i kilo of rhizocote and 8 kilos of urea before adding 25 kilos of complete fertilizer. In the 20th day, mix 1 kilo rhizocote and 8 kilos of urea before adding 25 kilos of ammonium sulfate and embed a tablespoon heaping to the planted crops four to five inches from them. In the 45th day, mix 12 kilos of urea and rhizocote before adding 15 kilos of muriate of potash, and embed a tablespoon to the planted crops. For foliar, dissolve 2 sachets of rhizocote foliar to 32 liters of water and spray to the leaves each week.
For Pechay
Distribute 5 to 8 sacks Nature’s Best Organic Compost to 1000 sq. meters land for pechay. For basal, mix 1/2 kilo of rhizocote and 5 kilos of urea before adding 15 kilos complete fertilizer, before transplanting the seedlings. In the 12th day, spray a sachet of rhizocote foliar dissolved in 16 liters of water to the leaves. Use only two sachets per 1000 sq. meters.
For Ginger, Potato and Gabi
Before planting, mix a bag of urea and a kilo of rhizocote before adding 3 bags of complete fertilizer and equally distribute in 20 grams per meter of the crop. In the 30th to 35th day, mix one a half bags of urea to rhizocote and embed near the core of the crop.
Fertile harmony
“Rhizocote is designed to be organically balanced to provide adequate micronutrients for the plants to yield more than 160 cavans of rice,” presents Mr. Calugcugan. It is, however, appraised contextual to the soil type, and an individuated rhizocote depends on the crop and variety. Therefore, offers Mr. Calugcugan, it is more than just using organic fertilizers, since the latter’s micronutrients are soil-dependent and merely supplementary.
“We talk about technology. In rice, for example, rhizocote can copiously cultivate blue green algae which are nutritious to crops.” In addition to rice harvests, Unladsaka’s technology and rhizocote’s potential also speak of harmony. The implementation of the Unladsaka and the use of rhizocote rely on a congruous timing in setting up right amounts, equilibrium, and the right time, allowing a steadfast growth of up to 50,000 average income, as based on a Davao plantation study.
Hence, the right amount sets a symmetry of content: 3% magnesium, 2.9% zinc, 1.8% copper, .2% boron, .04% molybdenum, 1.5% iron, 4% manganese, 12.5% sulfate/sulfur, and a balanced inert and bio-enhancers.
The right time also means better prospects. Since R.R. Calugcugan Technologies spends directly from what they get, helping farmers use viable local substitutes is his mindset Hay and ash come into mind. While fertilizers cost a diamond right now, they are lying low to develop more means towards lush soils, and recently promoting sustainable technologies apt for the farmers. In his future trip to America, he will develop two more inventions to cope with the agricultural problems, specifically in fertilization technologies. Now that rhizocote may be an export potential, he is wary that, “it’s a difficult thing. There can be double handling. We import raw materials, then we make the technology, then export the technology itself.” But hopefully, he jokes, Nostradamus’ insight that a fountain of food will be at the core of East Asia would be us.
