After all these years, soil testing to ensure that farmers do not overuse chemical fertilizers, where organic fertilizers are more appropriate, have been in the least priority of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
But now, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. wants more soil testing labs across the country to help boost farmers’ productivity.
A press release from the Palace on Wednesday, August 14, quoted the President citing: “We lack soil analysis,” an insight he gained from his one year as concurrent DA Secretary.
He declared this at the meeting with DA officials on Tuesday adding that “we cannot tell the farmers how much fertilizers to use. We cannot give them any advice because we don’t know ourselves what the condition of the soil is.”
The DA has pushed soil mapping and agricultural liming initially in Luzon areas as part of a program to expand the sugar industry. “That soil mapping actually applies to all crops,” he stressed.
Former DA Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development Leocadio Sebastian has often been pushing for the establishment of more soil testing labs and enhancing the soil capacity of the DA to properly guide farmers on what to plant best and how much and type of fertilizers to use per hectare, calling this as a “science-based approach.”
The President said there should at least be one soil testing center per region to guide farmers to crops suitable to their lands, he said.
The DA said restructuring efforts were under way to help increase the number of soil testing centers as it eyes 12 such facilities to be operational by next year, Malacañan added.
Last February, Marcos led groundbreaking rites for a P250-million state-of-the-art soil laboratory in Agusan del Sur.
The soil laboratory, touted as the first of its kind in the country, was designed to conduct physical, chemical and biological characterization of soils through advanced analytical capabilities.
The laboratory with a floor area of 1,687 square meters was designed to analyze 50-100 samples daily.
The Laboratory Services Division in Quezon City, manned by 22 soil analysts, provides support services to the technical divisions of the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), the public and private sectors, academe, NGOs and farmers.
In addition, the division oversees the establishment and operation of all soils laboratories in the country as per Presidential Decree No. 1435.
The division needs to be strengthened through the upgrading of technical competencies and modernization of its equipment.
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