PROVIBIO IPB Could Lower the Use of Chemical Fertilizer by 50 %
On Saturday morning, 2 November 2013, it was seen the unusual sight in Sidomulyo Village, Bangsal Subdistrict, Mojokerto, East Java. Hundreds of people were passing by. Banners and welcome banners were installed. School children were lined up neatly with the Red and White flags in hand. Representing various farmer groups of Mojokerto and the surrounding, the farmers attended with the enthusiastic faces. This crowd was part of the event of “Panen Raya Kedelai / Soybean Harvest” held by the Ministry of Agriculture of RI.
Series of activities with the theme of “Komersialisasi Teknologi Pupuk Hayati Unggulan Mendukung Ketahanan Pangan / Commercialization of Superior Bio-fertilizer Technology to Support the Food Security" was initiated by Consortium of National Superior Bio-Fertilizer (KPHUN) which consisted of various elements i.e.: IPB, National Innovation Committee (KIN), Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) and Agency for Research and Development, Ministry of Agriculture of RI. One of the icons in the activity was the bio-fertilizer of the result of innovation of Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), PROVIBIO IPB.
Rector of IPB, Prof. Dr Herry Suhardiyanto, in the occasion stated, IPB would continually strive to provide the best for farmers as one of the constituents of IPB. Various innovations had been produced by IPB to help farmers out of various problems which during this time whacked. One of them was the dependence on fertilizer. IPB also would keep pushing the innovative attempts which could be used and cooperated with farmers. As the appreciation, the Minister of Agriculture of RI, Suswono, promised to help disseminating the technology and distribution as well as participating to succeed the development of production network of PROVIBIO IPB in the level of farmers. Moreover, the budget allocation for production and utilization on a national scale was also promised.
Present at the event was the Researcher as well as the Inventor of PROVIBIO IPB, Prof. Dr. Dwi Andreas Santosa. Lecturer in the Department of Soil Science and Land Resources, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB which was known to be close to the farmer said emphatically that PROVIBIO IPB was the best bio-fertilizer based on the result of study of the Ministry of Agriculture in 2011-2013. The trial results of demonstration plot scale, demarea and large scale by farmers in hundreds of land hectares in Java Island showed that PROVIBIO IPB was able to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer up to 50 per cents without lowering the results. This fertilizer could increase the rice production of 1-3 ton of GKP per hectare. Meanwhile, in the first growing season of 2013, the farmers in Situbondo who did not use PROVIBIO IPB experienced the crop failure up to 50 per cents, due to pests and diseases. Thus, PROVIBIO IPB in addition to lowered the need of chemical fertilizer and increased the harvest, it also could protect the crops from the pests and diseases.
Prof. Andreas added that to the future the production of PROVIBIO IPB would be in the hands of farmers. IPB would only produce the parent culture, escort and assist the farmers and be a quality tester of PROVIBIO IPB produced by farmers/farmer groups. “I estimate around 80% of profit from producing and marketing PROVIBIO IPB will be in the hands of farmers. Currently it is already established the production network at the level of farmers/farmer groups in four provinces, i.e. West Java, Central Java, Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) and East Java,” he said. Prof. Andreas convinced that the usage of PROVIBIO IPB in the national scale would be able to increase the rice productivity around 10–20% so that the rice self-supporting in the mid of land constraints was expected to be achieved.
Limited information, the bio-fertilizer which was originally named PROBIO now changed its name to PROVIBIO. This change of name was related to trademark registration of PROBIO that was not approved by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenhumham) because it contained the similarity of name with another product that had been registered.
PROVIBIO IPB contained nine beneficial microbes, i.e. bacterial fastening N2 (Azospirillum lipoferum ICBB 6088 and Azobacter vinelandii ICBB 9098), root nodule bacteria (Bradyrhizobium japonicum ICBB 9251), producer of growth hormone (Lactobacillus sp ICBB 8808), anti microbial odor (Saccharomyces cereviseae ICBB 8808), cellulose decomposer (Microbacterium lacticum ICBB 7125), lignin decomposer (Phanerochaete sp. ICBB 9182), decomposer (Paenibacillus macerans, ICBB 8810) and bacterial desinfectant (Bacillus thuringiensis ICBB 6095).
PROVIBIO IPB had already been tested its utilization in the cultivation of various commodities, including: paddy, chili, corn, soybean, onion, potato and oil palm with the dosage of 7 liter per hectare for seasonal crop. While for annual crop and plantation, the dosage was 10–20 liter per hectare every 3 months. PROVIBIO IPB was also effectively used for accelerating the composting process from the matter of months to be only 2 weeks. The Ministry of Agriculture had already tested PROVIBIO IPB in various locations, i.e. South Kalimantan, Jambi, Lampung, West Java, Banten, Central Java and East Java. (***ddh)
