SAN FABIAN-- The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Region 1 and Pangasinan fourth district Rep. Christopher de Venecia turned over on Aug. 12 an almost P600,000 worth bioreactor facility to the municipal government here that would help farmers turn their biodegradable wastes into organic fertilizer.
| ORGANIC FERTILIZER. Department of Science and Technology Regional Director Armand Ganal, Pangasinan fourth district Rep. Christopher de Venecia and San Fabian officials led by Mayor Constante Agbayani pose in front of a bioreactor facility that converts biodegradable wastes to organic fertilizer. |
DOST Region 1 Director Armand Ganal said their agency would also provide the other component of the facility, the shredder, by allocating another P200,000 for it. These are partners that would be placed in the facility while the equity of the local government will be the infrastructure and the road network going to the facility, he said.
He said the steered tank composting facility can process 500 kilograms of biodegradable materials of farmers and other residents into organic fertilizer daily. About 80 per cent of the total input of 500 kilograms of wastes could be turned to organic fertilizer as an output for organic fertilizer, he said.
Ganal said one requirement that must be followed is segregation of biodegradable from non-biodegradable materials as non-biodegradable materials cannot be processed by the machine.
"There should be no more burning of waste materials from the farm," he said.
He added there is a technology to be shared by experts from Metro Manila who would teach farmers to operate the bioreactor facility.
Sitio Bisbisucol, Barangay Ambalangan Dalin here is the site of the facility but the wastes would be coming from all over the municipality, Ganal said.
Pangasinan Fourth District Rep. Christopher de Venecia under whose initiatives the bioreactor facility was availed of from DOST, told farmers that he met earlier with Ganal and discussed programs that would benefit his constituents. One of the projects Ganal mentioned was the bioreactor facility which the congressman was interested to avail of for his constituents.
He said the facility is basically a "waste-to-worth" kind which amazed him, especially for farmers who are close to his heart.
"I am so happy that we are given this bioreactor facility which is now awarded to us here in San Fabian," he added.
The organic fertilizer that is the output of the composting process could be used by farmers in their farms for sustainability and would lessen their expenses in buying commercial fertilizer, he said.
"Eventually, if we become more savvy in our marketing, in our distribution chain network and value-adding activities, you can also use this to earn extra cash with the help of the San Fabian local government unit," he said.
He added they can sell their outputs at reasonable price and more stakeholders would be benefited by it.
He added that with the facility, people would have healthier foods to eat, helps the environment through the elimination of contamination, emits insignificant odor and accelerates composting process.
"This is like a start for San Fabian because we have big dreams with Mayor Danny (Agbayani) for San Fabian, from modernizing agriculture to focusing on tourism, and others," he added.
Ganal said Manaoag, another town under de Venecia's district, also acquired similar facility.
How it works
There are two kinds of bioreactor facility, one a steered tank and another a rotary tank.
The one given to San Fabian is steered tank with 500 kgs. capacity. This means half a ton could be put in the tank daily 24/7, Ganal said.
Once we have put the wastes in the tank, the stirrer would rotate inside slowly, he said. It has a motor of 1/2 horsepower only so it is cost efficient, he added.
On the second day, another half ton of wastes could be put again and be rotated again in the machine and on the fifth day, the first half ton of wastes would be out, Ganal said.
He said the microorganisms put inside the machine are alive and speeds up decomposition inside.
If operation of the bioreactor stops, the microbes inside the bioreactor would die, he said. Microbial inoculant is put inside the bioreactor and process must be followed to produce organic fertilizer later, he added.
"One thing must be remembered. If we are mixing garbage, we must have nitrogen-rich wastes like manure, dried grasses, kitchen and food wastes and market wastes," he also said.
He said the bioreactor machine is easily maintained with only 500 kgs. capacity.
The shredder machine, on the other hand, is now being developed, Ganal said.
Curing areas must be provided to finish the decomposting process, Ganal added.
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