BUTUAN CITY -- To help the farmers cope with the hurdles in rice cultivation amid the rising prices of inputs, particularly fertilizer, the Department of Agriculture (DA) promoted a technology for a Balanced Fertilization Strategy (BFS) incorporating inorganic and organic fertilizers in the field.

To hasten the campaign dubbed as, *Abonong Swak", DA-Caraga conducted a Media Briefing on June 24, 2022  to share to media practitioners the said technology and make them effective partners in the program dissemination campaign.

Regional Information Officer Emmylou Presilda said that the media has a great role in disseminating the Abonong Swak to their respective readers or listeners.

“Your presence today is a manifestation of your strong commitment to help the farmers through your programs, and we are so thankful for that,” she said.

DA-Caraga Regional Executive Director Engr. Ricardo M. Oñate said the Abonong Swak campaign supports the agency’s Balanced Fertilization Strategy, highlighting the importance of combining organic and inorganic fertilizers to reduce production costs while ensuring a higher yield.

“This campaign aims to widen the utilization of both organic and inorganic fertilizers. With our goal to empower the farmers in addressing the rising fertilizer prices, its success is dependent on  the support of the local government units (LGUs) and the farmers embracing the Abonong Swak recommendations,” he said.

"No matter how good is our strategy, without the support of our LGUs and the farmers themselves, it would be impossible to achieve its purpose, so we have to collaborate to attain the intended goal,” Director Oñate, Jr. added.

According to Regie Bicamon, senior agriculturist at DA-Regional Soils Laboratory, the idea of Balanced Fertilization is a revival undertaking since this  was introduced more than 20 years ago.

She also explained the different recommended combinations of organic and inorganic fertilizers based on targeted production volume and stressed that by following the technology, farmers could save production costs.

“The Combo 1 entails 3,000 to 4,000 kilograms (kgs) per hectare (ha) target production; Combo 2 has 5,000 to 6,000 kgs per ha target production; while Combo 3 includes 7,000 to 8,000 kgs per ha target production. Following the Abonong Swak technology, farmers could save P2,000 to P4,000 a hectare,” she said.

Enocensio B. Minguez, BFS focal person, said that there are 18 sites identified in the five provinces in the region to showcase the three combos for the farmers to see for themselves the advantages of adopting the technology.

“We provide input on demo sites based on the farmers’ choice of combo. The result will be a strong evidence to our farmers on the effectiveness of Abonong Swak,” he said.

BFS is a strategy laid down to the farmers to choose among the three recommended fertilizer applications based on budget and the target yield, incorporating organic and inorganic fertilizers to lessen the dependency on the inorganic inputs to cut down production expenses. (Lovely Joy Saludez, DA-Caraga/PIA-Agusan del Norte)