Seaweed-based fertilizer boosts rice production

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is upbeat in announcing a new fertilizer additive that can significantly boost rice yields.

It is called Carravita which is derived from seaweeds and vitamins. It is a product of research by experts of DOST and the National Crop Protection Center at UP Los Baños.

Seaweeds have been used as plant growth enhancer for many years now. We remember a farmer from Pangasinan who applied seaweeds in his rice farm many years ago, when we were editing an agriculture magazine in the 1960s. He reported good results. Then Pat Acosta of Benguet has been incorporating seaweeds in his growing medium for salad greens. He is also very satisfied with his system.

In the case of the report from DOST, the Carravita is very effective in improving growth and yield in rice because the formulation is more easily absorbed by the plants. Dr. Gil Magsino of UPLB-NCPC says Carravita is more absorbable because through nano technology, the seaweeds have been reduced to very minute particles.

A very small amount of Carravita is combined with three to six bags of fertilizers per hectare. At this rate, in trials in farmers’ fields, grain weight increased by 65.4 percent and panicle length increased 3.5 to 12.5 percent.

Carravita was initially introduced to more than 100 rice farmers in Pulilan, Bulacan this year. One farmer, Noel Mauricio, reported that when a strong typhoon passed through Pulilan, his rice plants did not lodge at all whereas those of the neighbors were flat on the ground. That’s because the stems of

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