Phl eyes tie-up with Indian firm to boost farm yield

CEBU, Philippines - The government plans to enter into an agreement with India's Prathista to put up a $12 million third generation (3G) fertilizer plant that uses an eco-friendly technology proven to aid in raising farm yield and income.

A $3 billion domestic market is foreseen to be served by the plant using a sophisticated fermentation technology, the Department of Agriculture (DA) announced.

DA has been engaged in preliminary talks to explore a partnership with Prathista Industries Ltd (PIL) for the establishment of a manufacturing facility on the 3G nutritional fertilizer technology.

An exploratory visit of a DA mission led by DA Undersecretary-Operations Dante S. Delima at the PIL plant in Choutuppal, Nalgonda District, Andhra Pradesh is hoped to lead to a bigger investment here.

"We want to enter into the Philippines in a big way. We have already invested half a million dollars in the Philippines. But we have a plan to create a manufacturing facility with an investment of around $12 million," said PIL President KVSS Sairam.

PIL has been present in the Philippines over the last four to five years. It has partnered with University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in testing 3G bioorganic fertilizers.

Its 3G nutritional products also include biotechnology products for animal feeds, pharmaceuticals and nutritional supplements for aqua and fish and the entire livestock segment.

The 3G organic fertilizer products may also be tapped by DA in its program called "Bhoochetana," an Indian word for soil rejuvenation.

It is a partnership between DA's Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) and International Crops Research Institute (ICRISAT), also India-based, to enhance soil fertility through organic fertilizers, including advanced 3G products of PIL.

BAR Director Nicomedes P. Eleazar and ICRISAT Director General William D. Dar signed last October 8 a memorandum of agreement (MOA).  It provided for BAR's release of P27 million over three years for Bhoochetana to be run on 10,000 hectares each in Quezon, Samar, Leyte, and Zamboanga Peninsula.

"Our Bhoochetana program may involve primary crops like coconut in Region 4 (Quezon), jack fruit as a flagship crop in Region 8 (Samar-Leyte), and rubber in Zamboanga," said Eleazar.

PIl India - present in 14 countries including the United States, Canada, Panama, Uganda and other African countries - will employ 100 people under a $12 million investment.

It will employ 250 people in a subsequent investment that will bring total to $34 million.

The Philippines requires the technology transfer that PIL may bring as the country needs both PIL scientists' expertise and the equipment know-how, according to Delima.  PIL's team may also soon visit the Philippines to further strengthen the plan, Delima said.

The first generation organic fertilizers are compost fertilizers, inorganic fertilizers that use chicken or other animals' dung or vermi-compost type manures, urea, MoP (muriate of potash) and DAP (diammonium phosphate).

The second generation products are bio-fertilizers and effective microorganisms which cannot provide nutritional requirements and act only as facilitators to improve soil health.

Prathista's 3G bioorganic nutritional products, produced through sophisticated fermentation biotechnology, tap innovative molecules.  These substitute chemical fertilizers, bio-fertilizers, effective microorganism, and other nutritional inputs.

PIL has released to the market bioorganic based phosphorus, potash, nitrogen, calcium, zinc and all other major and minor nutritional agri-inputs and fertilizers to meet nutritional requirements for all crops. /JMD (FREEMAN)