Fertigation

Fertigation? At first glance, it may seem like somebody made a typing error. Well, there is no error. Fertigation, a word coined by Israeli agriculture experts, refers to the acts of fertilization and irrigation taken together and performed as a single act.

Agriculture experts who were interviewed by reporters during a visit to Bulacan last week, said fertigation is a new technology of fertilizing one’s crops by incorporating the fertilizers in irrigation water and distributing the same to the crops by means of drip irrigation.

This, according to the Israeli experts, makes use of a facility that operates with little maintenance and supervision.

The system is composed of a water storage facility — a drug or tank, a main tube where the lateral distribution pipes are connected.

Experts said that with this modern technique, which is already being used in farms in Israel, the required amount of soluble fertilizer for a cropping season would be gradually incorporated when irrigating the farms depending on its water requirement. This new method, will cut the production time of high value commercial crops by as much as 20 percent.

This process, allows the optimum absorption of nutrients because dissolved fertilizers reach the roots of plants more easily than solids, thus encouraging faster growth. This will save the farmers valuable time, money and labor.

The system, experts said works through gravity, works well even when water volume is minimal and efficiently delivers water and fertilizers for plant utilization.

Plastro Philippines, the exclusive distribution office of Plastro International Israel, a manufacturer of low volume-irrigation systems, introduced the fertigation method to farmers in Central Luzon at the First Israeli Agri-Seminar conducted in partnership with the provincial government of Bulacan at the Hiyas Convention Center in this capital city.

Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Irit Ben-Abba said Region III was chosen as the venue for the seminar because it supplies a major percentage of agricultural products to Metro Manila, and because of its potential for agriculture modernization.

The ambassador said the method of fertigation will be included in the Agri-tech 2003 to be held on Sept. 15 to 18 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

It will feature other modern methods of agriculture that helped catapult the desert country’s economy into a leading exporter of agricultural products.

For her part, Bulacan Gov. Josefina dela Cruz said the seminar on new farming technologies will help the farmers not only in Bulacan but the whole of Central Luzon. "Our farmers should forego of the old tradition of ‘wait and see’ and start giving modern farming technologies a chance to improve their lives," she said.