Durabloom Processing Plant Rises in Batangas
The organic fertilizer needs of farmers in Batangas, Quezon, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Mindoro, and fishpond operators in Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Pangasinan could now be fully satisfied by a newly established processing plant in San Juan, Batangas that manufactures Durabloom bio-organic fertilizer for crops and Nova Pure PCM Aqua for fishponds.
Owned by Engr. Reynaldo Garcia, a 45year old construction magnate who used to be in the ricemilling business, the processing plant is a franchisee of the Novatech Agri-Food Industries which developed Durabloom and Nova Pure PCM Aqua.
The bio-organic fertilizer Durabloom is now widely used by corn and sugarcane growers in Mindanao and it appears that the establishment of this processing plant is timely as the processing p’.ant in Bantayan Island in Cebu may have difficulty in satisfying the rapidly growing demand for Durabloom. Nova Pure PCM Aqua, on the other hand, is now widely used by fishpond operators in Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Pangasinan.
We were told a few days before the New Year that the Zubiri family that owns a vast sugarcane plantation in Bukidnon, has already placed an order for 147,000 bags of Durabloom worth around P40 million. This is equivalent to almost four boatloads.
Well, back to the processing plant of Rey Garcia, it was only in January 2007 when he was introduced to Dr. Rene Sumaoang. the inventor of Durabloom and Nova Pure PCM Aqua, but before the year ended he had already started processing the two fertilizer materials. Dr. Sumaoang recalls that their first meeting was very brief, but Rey immediately indicated his desire to manufacture Durabloom before he would use it in their farm in Bulacan where he comes from. Expressing his concern on global warming, climate change, and plight of poor farmers, Rey said this processing plant could be his contribution to the alleviation of these problems.
In a casual manner, the inventor gave his approval but as soon as they parted ways, he did not give much thought about it, thinking that Rey might be just like many others who had a similar intention but were not really serious.
But after a month, Rey called Dr. Sumaoang reminding him to reserve a Novatech franchise in Batangas, where he said raw materials are available even if he has no poultry. Moreover, he had already spotted a land in Batangas where the processing plant would be established.
One meeting led to another until the contract on the franchise was signed on April 8, 2007: Rey bought in August 1.35 hectares in Brgy. Buhay na Sapa in San Juan, Batangas and started to put up the infrastructure for the processing plant.
Rey’s processing plant consists of three fermentation sheds with six fermentation areas. There is 1Iso a large building for the final processing and storage of the fertilizers. Each fermentation area, measuring 6 meters x 40 meters, can accommodate, 3,500 sacks of raw chicken manure for processing.
The plant could initially process 21,000 bags per cycle or 252,000 bags a year. Since a large chunk of the property is still not being used, it is highly possible that the fermentation sheds will increase in no time at all. Some 1,800 bags were already being fermented when we visited the plant before 2007 ended.
In an interview, Rey said he is not worried about the availability of raw chicken manure even as he does not have a poultry farm. He has hired a consolidator who buys for him raw chicken manure in Batangas where there are many poultry raisers.
Dr. Sumaoang said the location of the processing plant is also ideal because it is quite near the Batangas pier where the fertilizer could be loaded in boats and shipped to Mindoro or as far as Mindanao.
