Veronica Cinches and her Kingvern HOC Herbal Organic Concentrate Natural Farming. (Darwin Wee)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Darwin Wee / 11 Sept) Farmers and other crop growers should not focus on their yield alone, but also on soil protection, a chemistry professor, who mastered the formulation of organic fertilizer, said Monday.

Veronica Velasco Cinches, who has been teaching chemistry for 26 years now at the Universidad de Zamboanga here, said that organic fertilizers help improve the soil. Healthy soil is the long term key to good harvest, she said, adding, that without fertile soil, plants cannot thrive.

“A synthetic fertilizer which goes with our food does not only have negative or toxic effects to our body, but also decreases the nutrients of the soil,” she told Mindanao Examiner.

With her strong foundation and knowledge about chemistry, Cinches, 58, has concocted several formulas to completely achieve the answer for organic farming. After almost a year of trial and error, she was able to come up a holistic organic fertilizer called Kingvern Herbal Organic Concentrate (HOC), which will improve harvest.

Aside from her passion in chemistry and concern over the environment, the creation of the Herbal Organic Concentrate was prompted after she met General Santos City-based agronomist Rex Rivera, president of the Philippine Mango Industry in Mindanao, in 2004.

“Mr. Rivera encouraged me to do the technical studies. He provided me with substantial materials to support our organic fertilizer,” she said.

After almost two years, their HOC is now thriving. Rivera eventually became his business partners. Rivera takes care of the marketing and Cinches is in-charge of production.

She said that aside from being an organic fertilizer, the HOC was developed using several tropical herbs with repellant, insecticide, and fungicidal properties, which help protect the crop from insects and other destructive bacteria.

HOC is a combination of several compounds, such as neem leaves, kakawate and garlic, which are used as natural antibiotic and antifungal substances that create a very effective pest control.

In addition, HOC also has amino acids from fish which provide plant growth nutrients as a foliar fertilizer. Seaweeds, particularly, agar-agar, sea lettuce and eucheuma cottonii, are also being fermented and added to the compound.

The HOC product caters to two classifications of crops; the HOC-Plus is for non-solanaceous plants, such as mango, durian, papaya, rice,
corn, and banana. The HOC-Plus, she said, has the component of tobacco which kills different larvae and other pest eggs in the plant.

HOC has lesser element compound which is good for solanaceous plants such as eggplant, tomato, water melon, and cucumber. She said only two tablespoons of HOC is required per a gallon of water. She advised that spraying should cover from the soil, stem branches and up to the leaves for effective result.

Cinches said unlike the synthetic chemical which can build up toxic concentrations of salts in the soil, thus creating chemical imbalances, in organic farming there is less danger of over-fertilization.

She noted that organic fertilizer provides a slow release of nutrients as micro-organisms in the soil break the organic material down into an inorganic, water soluble form which the plants can use. The addition of organic material improves soil structure or workability immensely.

“,0] ); //–> She said the HOC passes three production stages — grinding, blending, and extraction. At least 60 percent of her raw materials are sourced out from her own backyard. “Venturing into organic fertilizer making is very practical, since all your raw materials can be found anywhere,” she said.

For almost two years now, Cinches was able to purchase three different kinds of machines for the production of the HOC. At present, Cinches said they produce an average of 100 liters a month and at least 80% of the products are shipped to different places in the Philippines.

Organic fertilizer is relatively cheaper compared with its inorganic counterpart. Cinches sells her product at a price of P200 per liter, at least twice as lower than the commercial fertilizer.

Cinches was able to establish a market in General Santos City, Pampanga, Baguio, and some provinces in Zamboanga Peninsula and the HOC is popular among mango growers.

HOC product is also one of the 41 small and medium-scale enterprises in Zamboanga peninsula which were able to benefit from the product development program of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Science and Technology.

“I am very optimistic that more and more farmers will use organic fertilizers because the trend is sustainable agriculture to counter the threats to society caused by synthetic chemicals used in industries and the environment,” she said.