Harnessing Microbial Resources for Sustainable Crop Production : The Philippine Experience

Proceedings of Shinshu University International Symposium 2007 “Sustainable Agriculture and Environment:Asian Network”The Philippines is primarily an agricultural country with rice, corn and coconut as the main crops. Its rich microbial diversity has contributed substantially to augment or partially substitute for chemical fertilizer requirements. From 1980-1990, the BIOTECH-UPLB conducted vigorous bioprospecting and screening activities in search for microbe based technologies for agriculture. Research and development activities and products of BIOTECH on biofertilizers and other microb-based technologies were collated. Secondary data and agricultural statistics were collected from the reports of different institutions. Majority of the microbial fertilizers at commercial scale are recommended for rice and corn. The reduction of 30 to 50% on cost of nitrogen fertilizers indicated that utilization of biofertilizers like BIO-N for rice and corn could contribute in enhancing sustainable crop production