BAGUIO CITY – More than three hundred fifty thousand bags of stockpiled organic fertilizer are available for bidding out to interested individual or institutional buyers for use in the production of organically raised crops for household or commercial consumption.
City Assistant General Services officer Eugene Buyocan informed members of the City Council there are over 8,870 tons of organic fertilizer produced by the city’s two Environmental Recycling system (ERS) machines from the conversion of biodegradable waste to compost fertilizer which are ready for disposal to interested individual and institutional buyers.
The winning bidder of the initial 3,000 bags of organic fertilizer that was bid out by the city’s disposal committee in coordination with the Commission on Audit (COA) has not yet gotten the items as he cannot come up to the city to haul the said compost fertilizer.
The city’s disposal committee declared Rapport Innovations, a Tarlac-based company, the winning bidder for the purchase of at least 3,000 bags of compost fertilizer after submitting the lone bid of P225,000 for the said organic fertilizer.
Buyocan claimed the city’s disposal committee wants to increase the volume of the compost fertilizer to be bid out to a maximum of 20,000 bags at 25 kilos each to attract organic farmers to buy the organic fertilizer this rainy season before they become soaked or carried away by rains.
The organic fertilizer produced from the ERS machines were previously subjected to tests by the regional soils laboratory in San Fernando City, La Union and a Manila-based private company and it was proven that it is organic considering that its nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content is around 5.3 which is within the 5-7 range of being classified as an organic fertilizer.
On his part, City Assistant Environment and Parks Management Officer Ruben Cervantes said this ERS-produced organic fertilizer is being used by park personnel in the production of flowers in the different parks around the city and it was proven effective although slow in its effect.
He said that CEPMO personnel want to get more supply of organic fertilizer from the General Services office so that it could use these in the planting and production of various types of flowers in the different parts and champion the use of the locally produced organic fertilizer.
Cervantes said by using the locally produced organic fertilizer in the parks, people will be convinced to use the same in their production of flowers and organic vegetables and they can minimize their expenses in the use of chemical-based fertilizers.
While the local governments still needs chemical fertilizers, Cervantes said the availability of the ERS-produced organic fertilizers from the city’s biodegradable waste will definitely help in reducing the expenses of the city in terms of fertilizers for the parks among others. /By Dexter A. See
