SRA inaugurates new research laboratory

A P6 million research laboratory for Beneficial Micro-Organisms (BMO) production as supplement to inorganic fertilizer for sugar cane growing was inaugurated last Friday at the Sugar Regulatory Administration’s La Granja Agricultural Research and Extension Center in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental.

The facility was funded through the Sugar Industry Development Act (SIDA) to boost research and development and make the industry globally competitive and sustainable.

Ma. Theresa Alejandrino, the Supervising Science Research Specialist said the new laboratory will help them increase their capacity of producing BMOs that has been proven effective as a fertilizer additive, thereby reducing cost of production inputs for sugar cane growers.

Alejandrino said BMO proved helpful during the prolonged dry spell early this year because it is a foliar fertilizer and can reduce regular fertilizer inputs by about 30 percent or more.

“It is actually a technology that has been used as early as the 1990’s as it basically functions as prevention for plant diseases but it is only recently that farmers are interested in using it amidst rising cost of fertilizers,” she added.

Last year, SRA gave out more than 10,000 gallons of BMO to over 200 beneficiaries. With the application of 10 gallons for one hectare, more than 1,000 hectares of sugar land used BMO as fertilizer supplement.

Based on their study, using BMO promotes germination, flowering, fruition and ripening of plants. It also improves physical, chemical and biological environmental of the soil and produces high levels of beneficial enzymes and organic acids that help build solid soil structure, Alejandrino said.

SRA Board Member David Sanson said based on the data gathered from the field, “our sugar farmers were able to save as much as P6,000 on fertilizer cost for each hectare they till because they opted to try BMO.”

Rising farm inputs, particularly fertilizer cost has had a tremendous effect on sugar farming in recent years and Sanson said, with this new facility, “SRA can increase BMO production that will hopefully be utilized by our farmers, especially the small farmers that comprise a huge chunk of our sugar producers, and make sugar farming sustainable for them.”

SRA also inaugurated the newly-refurbished soil laboratory and their green houses that will propagate high yielding variety canes as part of upgrading their research and development arm.* (PR)