LAST March, Chancellor Jose Camacho Jr. of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) granted an exclusive license to an agribusiness company, Agri-Specialist Inc. (ASI), to use, produce and sell the biofertilizer trademarked as Bio-N nationwide.
In turn, ASI — a newcomer in the biofertilizer industry — has allegedly been telling existing and potential Bio-N clients, including farmers’ cooperatives, private enterprises, and national and local government agencies, to stop making, marketing or using Bio-N without ASI’s permission. To date, however, ASI has not secured a certificate of product registration for Bio-N from the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority under the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Currently, the production and supply of Bio-N in various areas has reportedly dwindled or stopped. This is harming thousands of rice, corn and vegetable producers, who have been enjoying higher yields and substantial savings in urea fertilizer costs with this technology.
Under the direction of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Bio-N and other biofertilizers have gotten increased public funding in a bid to reduce the country’s dependence on imported and increasingly expensive inorganic farm inputs. For 2024, the DA has a P1.9 billion budget for the procurement of biofertilizers.
Bio-N was discovered in 1985 by Mercedes Garcia of the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (Biotech) in UPLB. Garcia came up with an inoculant — derived from bacteria found in talahib grassroots — that enables rice and other crops to use nitrogen from the air. Bio-N technology was developed at Biotech with financial support from the DA and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
In 2002, the DA started the commercialization of Bio-N. Hence, the DA and its regional offices and attached agencies/units — National Food Authority and Bureaus of Agricultural Research, Plant Industry, and Soils and Water Management — worked closely with Biotech, local governments, state universities and colleges, farmers’ cooperatives, and private companies in establishing 83 mixing plants to produce and distribute Bio-N fertilizer to farmers under a joint venture, third party and similar agreements.
In 2009, the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) sought Biotech’s authorization to mass produce another Biotech biofertilizer product — Mykovam — for coconut farmers. Prior to this, the FFF did field trials — under the supervision of Biotech scientists — in several sites across the country. Test results showed that Mykovam had significantly improved the growth and yields of coconuts at significantly reduced costs. However, Biotech inexplicably sat on the FFF’s partnership proposal.
We were, therefore, greatly surprised when — in the case of ASI — the UPLB Chancellor quickly issued an exclusive, long-term license to an industry newcomer for the acquisition, manufacture and marketing of Bio-N.
Considering too that Bio-N was developed with the use of public funds, how can it become the sole property of UPLB or ASI? Shouldn’t the national and local governments that contributed resources be entitled to royalties, unhampered access to the technology, and a say in its disposition?
Leonardo Q. Montemayor is the board chairman of the Federation of Free Farmers and former agriculture secretary (2001-2002).
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