Cotabato Farmer Harvests 40 Sacks More, Saves P6K in Pesticide

THANKS TO GROWTH ENHANCER AMO

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

M’LANG, Cotabato Province – A Mindanao farmer spiked by 40 sacks of palay his old harvest of 110 cavans to 150 sacks after he used the plant growth enhancer AMO.
Nathanael Fabila said the 40 cavans in a hectare of rice paddy that padded his old harvest did not only transform his bountiful harvest but he saved too by P6,000 to expenses on pesticide and fertilizer as AMO substituted them.
“Tatlong cropping ng nakaraan we were able to validate ang paggamit ng AMO kasi paradigm shift ng agriculture kasi nababawasan na talaga ang paggamit ng pesticide at that sense. The last three cropping ng aming palayan known to be rice production seed area hindi na gumagamit ng pesticide which we believe na noong unang panahon malaki talaga ang gastos namin sa pesticide,” he stressed to this writer at a pomelo farm in Barangay New Janiuay here.

 ALTERNATIVE. Cotabato Province’s pomelo planter Jerry Reyes (left photo) listens attentively to plant growth enhancer AMO’s Mindanao Executive Nathaniel Fabila who explains to the former the pilot project he will venture into countless trees of the sweetest big citrus tree to be sprayed every 15 days with the plant growth enhancer. AMO will replace the more expensive pesticide, herbicide, and fungicide Reyes uses to the leaves of his tree every other day. He spends P150,000 for a hectare as over-all cost of production that will give him a gross of P300,000 in five months.

He was here in the village to pilot countless of pomelo trees so the owner can save the prohibited expenses on fungicide, herbicide, and monoxide on the sweetest citrus fruits this rustic town produce for the consumption of the country.
With the growth enhancer that substitute as pesticides he used against snail, fungus, and bacteria he saved P3,500.
He did not replace AMO totally to the fertilizer worth six to seven thousand pesos.

   “Ang abono will lower at the stage. Hindi puwede abrupt ng release. The cost of this (Five sachets of AMO) is P3,500 kaya ang P6,000 to P7,000 (savings),” he explained the gradual technique he used on the fertilizer he usually procured at P6,000 to P7,000 in the four months planting to harvest season.

In the entirety of the season, a farmer spends P37, 000 based on the figures provided by the Philippines Statistics Authority, Fabila cited.
The sum included the costs on the pesticide, fertilizer, land preparation, laborers, and the machine rental he shelled out during the harvest time.

Lawyer Eric Acuña explained to this newspaper that if the cost of production (COP) of the Vietnam rice has P6.00 cost of production per kilo versus the Philippines P12. 41 a kilo he can compete with a P4.53 a kilo by using his plant growth enhancer technology.

 Acuña, a former Pangasinan congressman, said that Vietnam rice that floods the market because of the Rice Liberalization Law and at the expense of Filipino farmhands is still cheap even after it entered the Bureau of Customs.

“The cost of production of Vietnam is P6.00, tariff imposed by the Philippines government on that price is 35% or P2.10 a kilo, freight cost is P1.00, and importer’s profit is P1.00,” he cited the landed cost of P10 a kilo.

The four sachets of 100 - gram each of the plant growth enhancer's AMO Fabila showed to Reyes in the agricultural village of New Janiuay in M'lang, Cotabato Province. Fabila is a renowned seed producer in Mindanao.

He said that with AMO organic fertilizer applied to a hectare of a rice farm, a kilo of the local palay will cost P4.53 that could threaten the Vietnam staple.

“Habol natin is for everybody to try. We are willing to conduct free farm trial,” Acuña , who impressed several sectors like National Tobacco Administration after he gave them a free trial, stressed.

Fabila said the 40 sacks and the six thousand pesos savings in fertilizer and pesticide costs were big factors for his financial stocks.
A kilo of dried palay today is P13 (May 20, 2020 Philippine Daily Inquirer's data for Bukidnon, Bulacan, Davao City and Iloilo) or P66, 500 net from the 150 cavans. There is 50 kilos of palay in a sack, he cited.
That P66,500 divided into four months would give a farmer and his family a monthly income of P16, 625.
Fabila used only five sachets or 100 gram kelt based growth enhancer AMO in the four months planting to harvest time.
“We need five spraying schedules from the whole cropping. Five times on a 15-15 computation”.
The one sachet can be dissolved in a 200 liters of water in a drum but he usually makes it at 160 liters.
The suggested price of one sachet all over the country, as dictated by the management based in Calasiao in Pangasinan, is P700 according to Fabila.

READ: Pinoy Trader Answers to Vietnam Cheap Rice

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pahngasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)