Agriculture Business Week

For more than two years now, farmers in at least 11 towns of Bulacan and Pampanga have been getting higher yields and net income from their rice, corn, watermelon and vegetable crops. These are due to the bio-organic fertilizer Durabloom, which is made of pure chicken manure.

Liza Sacdalan of Plaridel, Bulacan, said it all started in a seminar held on Dec. 5, 2004 that was attended by officers of the Angat Maasim River Irrigation System Confederation of Irrigators Associations. In that seminar, Dr. Rene Sumaoang, president and general manager of Novatech Agri-Food Industries, talked- lengthily on bio-organic fertilizer Durabloom, which he himself formulated after working as vice president of a private company for several years.

Immediately after the seminar, the heads of the various irrigators associations ordered a total of 200 bags, which were delivered in Plaridel five days later.

As a farmer, community leader and officer of the irrigation system confederation, Liza got 25 bags for their 2.5-hectare (ha) farm. Her father was reluctant to use it at first which was understandable because he used to apply inorganic fertilizer. He was unwilling to use Durabloom and thought that the amount she bought was too much. At that time, her father was using 16 bags of inorganic fertilizers for their farm.

She applied Durabloom during the last harrowing. This was followed by the application of five bags ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) at 15 days after transplanting (DAT) and three bags of complete (14-14-14) at 40 DAT.

Three days after the Durabloom application, she saw that algae (lumot) were already growing profusely in the field. Thereafter, she noticed that the newly transplanted seedlings were growing well with dark green leaves like kutsay. One week after transplanting, “numerous earthworms were already observed in the field,” Liza said.

She said that in the past, earthworms could hardly be seen in their farm that’s why she was worried. She was apprehensive that the earthworms would cause some problems, and so she called up Dr. Sumaoang. She was told, however, not to worry about the earthworms, as this is an indication of a favorable condition for their development. Dr. Sumaoang also told her that the earthworms would even help improve the fertility of the soil.

With a rice production cost of P35,000 in 2004, they were harvesting only 215 bags or 4,300 kg/ha per season. But with the initial application of Durabloom, their yield increased to 5,828 kg/ha, which indicates an increase of 1,528 kg/ha or 36 percent. Come to think about it, the initial application already made a dramatic increase in their yield. Such an increase in yield would surely be encouraging to any farmer. Assuming that a kilogram of rice grains at that time was P8, then the additional 1,528 kg was already worth a little over P12,000. What’s more, the cost of production commensurately decreased as a result of reduced inorganic fertilizer application, thereby increasing the net income.

DURABLOOM DISTRIBUTOR
This lady, who has been fighting for irrigators’ associations in Bulacan since 2000 and an outstanding alumna of the Centro Escolar University where she obtained her degree in commerce, did not waste any time in~ spreading the word about the benefits that could be derived from Durabloom and eventually became its distributor in Bulacan.

And like her, Durabloom has also helped other farmers increased their yield. Among the first users were Pacifico Dimla of Pulilan; Mario Manaol of San Luis, Pampanga; Hermogenes de Castro of San Rafael, Bulacan; Guillermo Mangaluz of Brgy. Candaba, Pampanga; and Gerry dela Cruz of Pandi, Bulacan.

With the application of 15 bags, Dimla harvested 7,500 bags from I ha. On the other hand, Manaol applied 20 bags in 2 ha and got a yield of 6,600 kg/ha.

Other farmers who followed their. example benefited as well. For instance, Dr. Pedro San Diego, a 93, yearold retired physician in Plaridel, has been using the product for four consecutive seasons already. He owns 25 ha in various locations and was using decomposed agricultural biomass including sawdust and coir dust before he came to know about Durabloom.

His farm in Sto. Nino, Plaridel was almost mistaken by farmers as grassland. In fact, one farmer almost tethered his carabao in the area. This was because of the luxuriant growth of the rice plants at the tillering stage. Another Durabloom user in Plaridel is Oscar Perlas who applies the product in his 5-ha farm.

Boy Camaya of Baliuag applied 25 bags of Durabloom, five bags of urea (45-0-0) and five bags of complete (14-14-14) in his 3-ha farm in Apalit, Pampanga. He harvested a total of 300 bags (roughly 18,000 kg).

In Brgy. Malis, Guiguinto, Bulacan. Rey Rivera applied six bags Durabloom in 6,000 sq. m. His yield increased by only eight bags.

The Municipal Agriculture Office subsequently ordered 200 bags for distribution to farmers as an intervention for increased rice yields. Liza said it is because they trust the product.

The positive feedback on the performance of Durabloom has also reached Pampanga. In Brgy. San Juan, San Luis, Pampanga, Sunny Domingo applied eight bags of Durabloom plus four bags of urea in his 1.8-ha farm which he planted to a private hybrid. His crop became the apple of the eye of other farmers as he harvested a total 215 bags (roughly 13,000 kg). With a total production cost of P14,000, he surely must have obtained a high income since he sold his harvest at P12.50 a kilo.

In the wet season of 2005, Liza conducted a seminar for farmers in Plaridel and immediately after the seminar, Mayor Tessie Vistan ordered 234 bags of Durabloom for distribution to farmers who were going to plant hybrid rice. Two bags of the bio-organic fertilizer were given free for every bag of hybrid rice seeds planted.

It was a good marketing strategy since the two bags are not enough for a hectare. Farmers who followed the recommended rate of Durabloom application still had to buy an additional eight bags. Thus, Liza sold about 800 bags that season.

One of the users was Ka Imo, a farmer who cultivates only 6,000 sq. m. He applied six bags Durabloom and harvested 82 bags (roughly 4,920 kg). He said that his crop did not lodge despite a number of typhoons that passed the area. He was so amazed at his yield and from then on, he has been going directly to Liza to buy the bio-organic fertilizer.

In the dry season of 2006, the Plaridel LGU got again 100 bags of Durabloom despite the limited budget that it could afford.

CORN, WATERMELON, VEGETABLES
Corn, watermelon and vegetable growers in Pulilan also use Durabloom even if they only heard about its performance in rice.

Roland de Guzman, for instance, tried it on 1,700 sq. m. which he planted with 1 kg of corn seeds. Before he started to use Durabloom, his total production cost amounted to more than P6,000 and his harvest was sold at P8,000. With Durabloom application, his production cost decreased to a little over P5,000 because the amount of inorganic fertilizer decreased. Oil top of that, his sale from his harvest from 0.17 ha was P14,000, which means an additional income of almost P7,000.

News about Roland’s harvest spread so easily, until other farmers led by Remy Daquiz started to use Durabloom. After their initial trial, the corn farmers in Pulilan continued to get their Durabloom supply from Liza because they are satisfied with its performance.

Liza said that because the yield of vegetable growers in Plarldel increased due to Durabloom application, they have stopped using inorganic fertilizer on tomato, pechay, mustard and pole sitao.

Watermelon growers have also followed their fellow farmers. In the 2007 dry season of 2007, the Plaridel LGU got 150 bags of Durabloom, which were distributed to 21 farmers who participated in a “Pinaka contest,” a contest on the production of the largest watermelon fruit.

According to Liza, the top three winning entries weighed almost two kilos each. Venancio Talastas, a farmer and councilman in Brgy. Parulan, said that watermelon fruits produced with Durabloom were bigger than those applied with inorganic fertilizer. He has been planting watermelon for 3 1 years already, but his yield this year was better due to Durabloom application.

Henninio Frias, Plaridel municipal agriculturist, said the production cost of farmers for watermelon has decreased while yield and income increased due to the application of the bio-organic fertilizer.

Liza said the farmers were indeed very happy about their yields. In fact, one farmer harvested watermelons worth P250,000 from 1 ha.

Liza has already sold more than 1,000 bags of Durabloom for this year’s wet season rice crop alone and expects the volume to increase as soon as heavy rains come. In fact, this writer had to wait for her for a while when he went to interview her because she was out trying to close a deal with a rice farmer.

Overall, this former outstanding youth leader while in college, who has been hopping from one job to another, has finally found a niche with bio-organic fertilizer Durabloom. At the same time, she continues to fight for the rights and privileges of the members, of irrigators associations.