A project of the College of Agriculture of Silliman University converts organic waste from the campus into profitable products like organic fertilizer.
Proponent and instructor Arsenio Bulfa Jr. said that the entire process of converting organic waste to fertilizer and other agricultural products are all being done in the university’s Scheide Farm, where the College of Agriculture is located.
“All the organic wastes coming from the University are now deposited in one spot in the College of Agriculture,” said Bulfa in an interview in “AgriPreneur,” a weekly television show on GMA Network last November.
Organic wastes collected from the campus such as leaves, twigs, food waste, and manure from animals in the farm are converted into vermicast, organic fertilizer, organic soil amendments, and potting mixes, according to Bulfa.
The College of Agriculture faculty, staff, and students led by its dean, Dr. Edwin Cubelo, are working together on the project in order to help smallholder farmers to plant healthy plants that are not dependent on synthetic fertilizers and make healthy produce.
Bulfa said leaves are first shredded then mixed with manure to remove moisture and odor. Concoctions made by students are also added to the compost pile to remove odor and add more microorganisms, which will speed up the decomposition process. The concoctions include fermented fruit juice, fermented plant juice, bokashi, and lactic acid bacteria serum.
“Controlling or removing the odor of the compost pile is an important process in making organic fertilizer, especially when this is near residential areas,” he informed.
The leaves and manure mixture is then mixed with vermicast, carbonized rice hull, and other products to create potting mixes for specific crops.
He emphasized that the compost mix, as an organic material, must be “totally decomposed” and aged first before it can be used as organic fertilizer, or else it might harm plants.
Before using the created organic fertilizer and other organic soil amendments like vermicast, Bulfa said his team waits for three to six months to age it.
As for food waste, Bulfa said it is processed through bokashi composting, which turns food waste into soil amendments. Because of the oils in food waste, he said it is not mixed with organic wastes as it can slow down decomposition.
Among the products of the project, potting mixes were the most popular because of the “plantito/plantita” trend of owning potted and indoor plants, especially in the pandemic.
This is an opportunity to educate people about taking care of plants, thus, resulting in the creation of a Facebook page for Silliman Farm to reach out to a wider audience.
“Since these people are new to gardening, we opened a Facebook page so that they can consult us freely about their plants, how much fertilizer to apply. We are able to help them using this platform and as a College, we are glad to help inform people about sustainable farming,” said Bulfa.
The project is also an avenue for research in the College as they seek to identify the best technologies to share with the community. Bulfa, who teaches Soil Science, initiated the project after conducting a laboratory activity in his Organic Agriculture class. He realized that the activity could be a beneficial project for SU.
The University administration, said Bulfa, has supported and funded the project, which is in line with Silliman’s environmental advocacy.
“We want to become forerunners in the prevention of environmental pollution, conservation, and enhancement of our natural resources and sustainability, hence, we need to educate the community on how to do organic farming because it’s environment-friendly and sustainable,” said Bulfa, who is also the College’s research coordinator.
In the show hosted by award-winning journalist Jiggy Manicad, Bulfa also talked about the importance of shredding materials before adding them to the substrate, the importance of aeration in compost bins or pits, and vermicomposting. – NWI
