Vital N, one of only two Filipino bio-fertilizers registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA), is hoped to be shipped out perhaps in one year as the first Asean (Association of South East Asian Nations) country is now in the second season of field testing it.

"Hopefully we can export it (soon). One Asean country is now in its second season of testing. The result of the first testing was really good. It’s going to be a government purchase (if it pushes through), but we’re also talking with private companies," said Dr. Saturnina Halos, Vital N producer Arnichel Corp. vice president, in an interview.

The environment-friendly bio-organic fertilizer faces highly promising markets as consumers have become more conscious of the adverse effects of chemical fertilizers on the environment.

"World organic farming market is rapidly growing with very few technologies being offered," Halos said.

The bio-fertilizer is substantially cheaper and maximizes crop yield to its highest potential.

Studies indicated that Vital N can maximize corn yield to as much as 9.092 metric tons (MT) per hectare or by a 1.27 MT yield increase. Compared to corn with no fertilizer applied that yielded only 4.32 MT per hectare, corn with Vital N yielded 5.583 MT per hectare or an additional 1.26 MT.

Corn crop that adopted the full recommended fertilization but without Vital N gave a 7.825 MT yield but even reached 9.092 MT with Vital N added.

On onion, Vital N-treated crop yielded 15 MT more per hectare since the bio-fertilizer leaves the plant without disease.

The biofertilizer basically adopts biological nitrogen fixation through azospirillum, a free-living nitrogen-fixing genus of bacterial associated with plant roots popularized in the US by Robert H. Burris. Its strength makes it a cheaper with cost equivalent to just one half the bag of inorganic fertilizer. It has wide applications and is used in India for seed treatment, nursery treatment, soil application, pit treatment and fertilization in cereal and non-cereal crops.

Its prospect for export is enhanced by its convenient exportable form, dry powder, and has a shelf life of at least three years compared to the Bio N being promoted by the government which has a threemonth shelf life and is in a more fragile wet live mass form

"When we developed it, we decided it had to be in powder form or rather not develop it at all," Halos said.

Vital N even has notable advantages over Bio N with its application of 100 gram per pack to one hectare compared to Bio N’s five to six 200 gram packs per hectare. It can be stored at room temperature compared to Bio N’s refrigeration.

The Philippine market alone for Vital N involves six million hectares a year for rice (three million times two croppings at 100 gram packets) while the wolrd market involves 1.4 billion hectares.

Azospirillum-based biofertilizer are also found in India, France, Pakistan, Argentina, Mexico, and the US, and the Asean market remains to be tapped by a large proportion. Vital N’s 25 and 100 gram packs addresses farmers’ complaint on bulky organic fertilizers and addresses escalating transport cost while allowing door-to-door delivery.

Halos, a microbial physiologist and geneticist and her husband Ponciano, a microbiologist, both professors at the University of the Philippines-Los Banos and Diliman, developed Vital N since 1999 and began commercially producing it in 2003. It now distributes the product nationwide including Ilocos Region, Region 2 (Isabela, Cagayan), and Mindanao (South Cotabato).

Having passed FPA scrutiny, Vital N was tested by Dr. Nora Inciong, of the Bureau of Soils and Water Management; Dr. Ben Rongduen, Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit (RFU) 1, Dr. Betty Malab, Mariano Marcos State University; Dr. Vangie de la Trinidad, DA RFU 5, and Dr. Edwin Hondrade, University of Southern Mindanao.