BIOPRIME Agri Industries, Inc. announced that it is planning to develop nano-fertilizer facilities in the Philippines to ramp up fertilizer production and expand to global markets.
“The production facility will have a targeted capacity of 48 tons per year, employing more than 100 Filipinos in this high-technology agri initiative. Our product provides an avenue for the Philippines to implement an effective balanced fertilization program and planned production volumes can supply more than 3 million hectares of rice lands targeted to produce at least 22.4 million metric tons (MT) of rice per year,” BioPrime Chairman Ben Mead said in a statement.
“Our vision is to see the Philippines again meet its domestic rice consumption requirements and in fact become the next exporter of rice to the world,” Mr. Mead added.
According to BioPrime, balanced fertilization is the use of conventional synthetic fertilizers together with other fertilization techniques such as organic or nano fertilizers.
“This approach has been shown to increase yields, improve soil health, reduce chemical use, and most importantly to improve farmer earnings. With synthetic fertilizer costs up almost 300% in recent times, balanced fertilization presents a solution for farmers to both save money and increase yields,” it added.
BioPrime said it is working out the details on production capacity, domestic and export capacity, Board of Investment initiatives and other government support.
“We have been able to show in repeated trials that a farmer can reduce their synthetic fertilizer use by up to 50% and still increase yield which produces a net saving on input costs and also improves their revenue,” Mr. Mead said.
The project aims to improve bioremediation and soil redemption, reduce the use pesticides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers, lower carbon emissions, and improve milling characteristics.
“We have been on the clinical and field demonstration trials for over two years working with the Philippine Rice Research Institute, farmer organizations, and agricultural colleges such as Isabela State University, among others, to establish the efficacy of our technology. The impact of the product is compelling and we felt it was critical to have independent professional trials overseen by PhilRice to demonstrate its value proposition for the Filipino farmers,” Mr. Mead said.
The project has been in the works for two years, in collaboration between BioPrime, the Department of Agriculture, and the Philippine Rice Research Institute.
BioPrime said it is also seeking to have a public listing in the Philippine Stock Exchange by 2024. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson