Bokashi is fermented organic fertilizer popularized by the Japanese. It is produced by aerobic decomposition in windrows under a roof.

MANILA, Philippines – Bokashi is a cheaper organic fertilizer compared to vermicompost. Yet it is also a very potent fertilizer for various crops.

One company that is producing a lot of Bokashi is Fresh Start Organics of Silay City which nevertheless produces vermicompost also commercially.

Philip Reyes who is in charge of Bokashi production at Fresh Start says that they sell Bokashi at only P300 per 50-kilo bag compared to P500 per bag of vermicompost.

Bokashi, Reyes explained, is produced through aerobic decomposition in windrows under a roof. The raw materials should be turned once the pile reaches a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius. To be more efficient in commercial Bokashi production, turning is done mechanically instead of manually. Manual turning is very laborious and the mixing would not be as thorough. Thus, at Fresh Start, turning is done by a mechanical turner powered by a tractor.

The raw materials used in Bokashi production at Silay are readily available and are cheap because the bulk consists of sugar milling byproducts. These include mudpress, 32 percent; mill ash, 32 percent; fine rice bran, 2.5 percent; vermicast, 5 percent; rock dust, five percent (source of boron, zinc and other minerals); and vermi tea at four liters per ton.

Reyes said that the Bokashi is produced in 15 to 22 days. The pile is usually turned five times during the production cycle.

There is a big demand for Bokashi among sugarcane and coffee planters. The production of 240 tons by Fresh Start is a very small fraction of the total requirements of the sugarcane planters in Silay alone. At the recommended rate of two tons per hectare, the 240 tons is just one-fourth of one percent of the total requirement of the sugarcane plantations in Silay City.

The Bokashi Organic Blend of Fresh Start Organics is registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA). Many of the big coffee producers in La Castellana and La Carlota are users of Bokashi. They are the sources of Fresh Start Organics of their organic coffee. If the coffee farmers don’t have the cash to purchase Bokashi, the same could be advanced by Chin Chin Uy, one of the owners of Fresh Start. The coffee growers could pay in kind the fertilizers advanced to them.

Fresh Start Organics produces organic vegetables, culinary herbs, processed wellness products, and soon organic pork.