DENR to expand biofertilizer output by 55%

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will increase its total biofertilizer production for the first half of the year by 55 percent to ensure the supply of root growth enhancers for its National Greening Program (NGP). According to the DENR’s Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB), some 155 tons of biofertilizer will be made this semester, 55 tons more than what was produced during the same period last year. The bureau is producing fungus-based fertilizers, the component of which is a nitrogen-fixing bacteria species called vesicular arbuscular mycorrhiza. Mycorrhiza is known to promote fungal infection in the root area of a plant, induce root growth and improve transfer of water and nutrients to the host plant. “A total of 155 tons are to be distributed to 16 regions from January to June 2013, with a maximum of 10 tons per region,” ERDB Director Portia Lapitan said in her memorandum to DENR Secretary Ramon Paje. Last year, 100 tons of biofertilizer was produced by the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB-BIOTECH). Lapitan noted that the production capacity of the UPLB-BIOTECH has been hitting 25 tons per month since last December. Dr. Evangeline Castillo, ERDB science research specialist and project leader for the mycorrhizal production, said some 43 tons have already been distributed to various DENR field offices as of March this year. Castillo said satellite nursery facilities will be constructed this year to mass-produce the fertilizer for the next four years of the NGP’s implementation as well as for possible distribution to the public after 2016. The DENR is also planning to put up another mycorrhiza facility in Agusan del Norte to supply the biofertilizer requirements of the NGP’s implementation in Mindanao. “With the limited availability of water particularly during long dry season, mycorrhiza increases the plant’s tolerance to drought,” Castillo said. She said biofertilizers are also effective in areas affected by mine waste, citing studies which show that mycorrhiza has unique mechanisms that sequester heavy metals in the soil, thus increasing the plant’s tolerance to toxicity of the metals and minimizing their transfer to the plants treated with the biofertilizer. — BM, GMA News