Overview of the Benefits of Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant
Note: Further down this page you will find some files, which provide information about the benefits of the bio-fertilisers; some workshop presentations; some field test results; and some files translated into French. If you wish, you can go straight to the main benefits by following this link.
Section 1: Understanding the Situation of Chemical Farmers
It is common that farmers are afraid to change over to using 100% organic fertilizers. About 90% – 95% of farmers in any country are chemical farmers, and their family has probably been chemical farming for 20-30 years. That’s all they know. Very few will change over directly as they are afraid of change, afraid of the unknown, afraid of reduced yield, afraid of losing income, etc.
Basically, one needs to understand their fears and to remove them. If they are told the benefits of bio-chemical farming, then they will move from chemical farming to bio-chemical farming for the following main reasons:
1. The Harmful Effects on the Farmers: Chemical farmers are hurting emotionally, physically, and financially from the effects of chemical agriculture. This is a global problem, and not limited to any one country.
2. The Harmful Effects on the Soil: The soil has become terribly weak and hard as chemical fertilizers and sprays have killed off the micro-organisms of their once fertile soil. These micro-organisms create a strong immune system that protects the crops from disease, but as they have been killed off by soil acidity and chemicals, the immune system of the crops has been weakened, and crop disease is rife.
3. The Effect of Soil Acidity on Crop Growth: The soil has become terribly weak and hard as a result of excessive use of chemical fertilizers and the resulting lack of micro-organisms, and the farmers’ crop yields are lower. To deal with this the fertilizer agents tell them to buy more chemical fertilizer and more sprays, which just makes things worse. The farmers cannot get out of the vicious cycle that they are caught up in unless they phase out chemical fertilizers and sprays. Bio-chemical farming helps them here.
4. The Rising Cost of Chemicals: Add to this the rising costs of chemical fertilizers and sprays, which reduce their profits more each year. Chemical farmers are usually trying to reduce their costs because chemical fertilizer prices keep rising. They have to increase the amount of chemical fertilizer they use each year just to get the level of previous yields as their soil weakens.
Section 2: How Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant Can Help a Country
The next generation of agriculture in the world does not lie with chemical fertilizer. It lies with the application of bio-technology to agriculture. Bio-technology can change a country’s agriculture from chemical agriculture to 100% organic farming in a way that even hardened chemical farmers, who often do not like change, can accept.
The way to persuade chemical farmers to change to 100% organic farming is by first showing them the benefits of bio-chemical farming, and this is where Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant help. Bio-chemical farming is simply an intermediary stage leading to 100% organic farming. When chemical farmers see the benefits of bio-chemical farming, they willingly make the change to 100% organic farming. Usually, it is a 3-year process.
Location: Pokata
Treatment: Bio-chemical with Bio-Plant & Pro-Plant
Yield/Plot (Kgs): 750 kgs
Yield/Hectare (Kgs): 3,000 kgs
Location: Pokata
Treatment: Urea and NPK only
Yield/Plot (Kgs): 325 kgs
Yield/Hectare (Kgs): 1,300 kgs
Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant enable a country to replace chemical fertilizer farming by making both types of farming widespread – with a higher yield and lower costs. They can take the country eventually to the point where the chemical farmers have abandoned chemical agriculture and willingly practice 100% organic farming.
Using chemical fertilizers in the long-term weakens the soil’s fertility, thereby requiring farmers to use more chemical fertilizer in the following year (at higher prices by then). The fertilizers also kill the micro-organisms in the soil and weaken the natural immune system of the plants so that pests and diseases can attack them easily, which requires the farmers to use toxic pesticides, etc., as a result. The farmers become poorer as the yields decrease and their costs rise. At the same time, the chemical fertilizers run off into the waterways and turn into acids. The health of the people is affected by the chemicals used in agriculture, and this costs the country more money in other ways.
Section 3: Some of the Soil and Growth Benefits
1. They Overcome the Problems of Chemical Agriculture
Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant enable a country to break out of the vicious cycle created by chemical fertilizers. Not only does chemical agriculture kill the micro-organisms of soil, but 75%-80% of the NPK of chemical fertilizers is not absorbed by the roots and is deposited unused in the soil. As a result, the soil hardens and weakens, and this requires the farmers to use more chemical fertilizer to get the same yield as before. This simply harms the environment, the country’s economy, and makes the farmers poorer. The micro-organisms of Bio-Plant especially “sweep up” the deposits of NPK by making them absorbable by the roots. The soil starts to become aerated, to soften, and to become crumbly and fertile again.
2. They Restore the Soil
Bio-Plant contains the micro-organisms and fungi of fertile soil. The micro-organisms in Bio-Plant bring life back to the soil, even poor sandy soil. The soil becomes soft, crumbly, and rich in microbial life, which chemicals kill. One litre of Bio-Plant makes 5 tonnes of effective bio-compost that restores a hectare of soil. If farmers can make the effort to use this very strong, restoring bio-compost for a year, they will see their soil return quickly to its original, natural fertility. Their fertilizer costs will go down further while the yield will increase. It is simple and much more effective than piling on more chemical fertilizer, which simply puts the farmers into more debt while making the soil weaker.
Pro-Plant increases both the major and minor nutrients in the soil, and provides the essential minor nutrients that chemical fertilizers do not provide.
3. They Produce Healthy Plants
The bio-fertilizers strengthen the plant’s immune system, immunize against pathogens, and greatly increase the plant’s pest-resistance. When Pro-Plant is sprayed onto the leaves, the leaves are coated with micro-organisms, which protect the plant against disease. Also, during the first season Bio-Plant removes about 20% of harmful insects in the ground by breaking their life-cycle. After a few harvests those soil insects have gone.
4. They Accelerate Growth: Firstly, the micro-organisms of Bio-Plant provide the plants with a lot of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium as described above. In addition, when Pro-Plant is sprayed onto the leaves before 9 a.m. when the pores are fully open, the nutrients enter the pores and become usable straight away. The nutrients activate and accelerate plant growth, and this becomes very noticeable during the blooming and productivity stages of crops. Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant provide farmers with great flexibility. For example, if a farmer wants extra yield, then s/he can spray Pro-Plant every 7 or 10 days instead of every 14 days.
The effect is seen clearly with tea plants, where the increase in leaves is about 20% in every 14-day picking cycle compared to chemical fertilizers, and with rubber tree saplings, which grow about 20% faster.
If the seeds are soaked in or mixed with Bio-Plant, the crop yield will increase at least 5%.
5. They Increase Crop Yields
In 100% organic farming usually the crop yield increase is at least 30% to begin with compared to chemicals, but in our experience the yield increases much, much higher, though it depends on the situation and on how the farmers use the bio-fertilizers. Initial gains increase with each season as the microbial life of the soil is restored and the soil becomes more fertile. The bio-fertilizers effectively make chemical fertilizer technology obsolete.
6. They Mitigate the Effects of Climate Change (Regenerative Agriculture)
The bio-fertilisers can play an important role in regenerative agriculture because they make it possible to capture huge amounts of Carbon from the air, and sequester it into the soil, thereby helping to reduce the effects of climate change in the country and globally. At the same time this process increases the fertility of the soil, and increases the quality and yield of crops.
Regenerative agriculture includes maintaining high levels of soil organic matter and using minimum tillage; increasing biodiversity through composting, green manures, and mulching; and employing crop rotation, intercropping, and cover cropping.
7. They Ensure Food Security
By improving the growth conditions of the soil the use of the bio-fertilisers increase food security and minimize risks like crop failures. Higher carbon content enables the soil to make more water and nutrients available to support crop and plant growth. Soil carbon plays a role in maintaining the biotic habitants that make land management systems sustainable, resilient and able to resist degradation.
Regenerative farming also improves water retention and plant uptake. These climate-friendly agricultural methods are low-cost in a long run and benefit especially small-scale farmers and farmworkers, who are the majority of hungry people.
8. They Improve the Quality of Food
The bio-fertilisers produce nutritious, nutrient-rich food by restoring the natural fertility of the soil, and by providing over 50 nutrients to the plants. In addition, the methods used in 100% organic regenerative farming, such as cover cropping, intercropping, and mulching, increase soil organic material and the amount of nutrients in the soil.
Section 4: Effect on Various Crops
1. Rice
Rice crops grown with chemical fertilizer do not compare with rice grown with the bio-fertilizers. The stems are stronger so the rice plants do not lean over unlike rice grown with chemical fertilizer; there are about 20% more roots; the roots are stronger and longer; the rice heads contain much more grain; the rice seeds do not fall off so much during harvesting; the quality of the rice is such that the seed becomes in demand as parent stock; the soil is softer and has a lot of worms and beneficial insect life; and there is little or no problem with the usual rice diseases (white spot, rust, etc.) because the rice plants develop a strong immunity to them.
In addition, the production cost will be lower; because the quality is better, there will be less broken rice; the rice will stay fresh longer and its weight will reduce more slowly before it is sold (chemical rice dries out quickly, and so the farmers get less money for their rice at the rice mill); there are fewer leaves and they are yellowy-golden, not green; and there will be fewer harmful insects in the soil after harvest.
2. Fruit Trees
Fruit trees produce more fruit. The fruit is larger/heavier, crispier, tastier and sweeter than chemical fruit, it shines more, and has about 20% more Vitamin C. The fruit keeps longer after harvest.
3. Bananas
The weight of bananas per tree is higher.
The bananas are sweeter than bananas grown with chemical fertilizer and chemical sprays.
The bananas look more attractive to buy and eat as the skin is shinier.
The bananas do not have black spots on them.
The bananas keep longer after picking.
The farmers can sell the banana leaves for wrapping food because the leaves have more cutin and look fresher and shinier.
The problems with disease disappear.
The cost of growing the bananas drops significantly. In bio-chemical farming the farmers can halve the amount of chemical fertilizer they use, and if they also prepare the soil with organic matter mixed with Bio-Plant, and spray Pro-Plant over the banana trees every month (or every 10-14 days for better effects), they will get a noticeable increase in yield.
Some banana farmers in Thailand stress the importance and benefit of preparing a lot of compost mixed with Bio-Plant and placing this around the banana trees. In the first year they said they took the recommendation of making up to 20 MT of compost and organic matter for each hectare, and they reaped the benefits of doing this. In the second year they could reduce the amount of organic matter they use as the soil had become rich in micro-organisms. After 3 years they could sell the bananas as “100% Organic Bananas”.
4. Mangoes
The main difference is the taste. The mangoes are very sweet and the mango flavour is much stronger than with chemical mangoes.
Another characteristic is the number of flowers on the tree in the flowering season. The trees are covered with flowers during the flowering season, more than the other mango trees, which do use fertilizer or which use chemicals. Spraying Pro-Plant causes fewer flowers to drop and the trees have more mangoes as a result.
Trees rarely have a problem with disease. The reason is that the immune system of the trees becomes stronger and stronger. Farmers place Bio-Plant in organic matter around the trees every month, and spray Pro-Plant on the leaves, flowers, and fruit so that they get coated with micro-organisms, which protect the plants from disease.
5. Pineapple
The fruit is much sweeter than pineapple grown with chemical fertilizer.
The pineapples are heavier.
When you look at the pineapples, there have more eyes (scales) around the fruit.
The pineapples look fresher and more attractive to eat.
The pineapples keep longer after harvest.
There are more suckers so that more pineapple plants can be planted and grown.
The problems with disease disappear. In the first season the farmers either halved the amount of sprays they used, or they stopped using them at once. But in the second crop, they could stop spraying chemical sprays altogether with no disease arising.
6. Rubber and Palm Oil Trees
Rubber trees produce more latex and palm oil trees produce more oil. Bio-Plant can be used as a fungicide on the tapped area. It also makes the latex flow more smoothly.
7. Vegetables
Vegetables grow larger, and are crispier and sweeter. The vegetables keep longer after harvest.
8. Sugarcane
The CCS of sugar cane is higher as the sugar is sweeter. The growth increases 25% – 30 % on average in 100% organic farming. Costs go down about 30% – 35%.
There is a significant effect on the growth parameters:
The number of internodes per cane.
The internodal length.
The tops weight.
The trash weight.
The sucrose content.
The yield components (number of millable canes, cane length, cane diameter, weight per stripped cane and stripped cane yield).
Some sugarcane factories mix Bio-Plant with the filter cake waste of sugarcane, and the farmers increase their productivity 5% – 10% by using it to prepare the soil instead of urea.
Sugarcane farmers increase their yield significantly compared to when they used chemical fertilizers.
Many sugar factories in Vietnam only want to buy sugarcane from farmers who grow their sugarcane crops with Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant, principally because the sugar from the sugarcane is sweeter than chemical sugarcane – usually about 20% sweeter on analysis.
9. Tea
Tea contains less tannin with the result that the taste is less bitter. The plant produces more leaves and branches. The amount of leaves produced in 14-day and 21-day cycles equals what chemical fertilizer produces in about 2 months. The leaves shine more and look fresher. There is more Vitamin C in the leaves. The tea is of a higher quality.
10. Tobacco
Tobacco leaves grow longer, larger, and are more numerous. The benefits of the bio-fertilizers are very clear with leafy crops, such as tobacco.
11. Flowers
Flowers keep fresher for longer after picking; they have more scent; and have a fresher appearance. The production costs are lower and the growth is more abundant. Rose bushes, for example, become bushier, and the quality of the roses increases.
12. Grass and Pasture
The effect on grass is that the grass and the soil become softer and the growth is better. They are very beneficial for golf courses where they lower the cost of maintaining the golf course. They soften the fairways and greens, and Bio-Plant can be used to clean the golf course ponds.
13. Various General Benefits
Fruit and vegetables are free of chemicals at a lower price. The produce keeps longer after harvesting than the produce of chemical fertilizers.
After one harvest the farmers can label the produce “Chemical-Free”. After 3 years they can sell it as “100% Organic” and export the produce as “100% Organic”.
Organic fertilizers usually take 3 years to make a crop produce the same amount as chemical fertilizers. Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant surpass the yield of chemical fertilizers in one season.
Plants grown with the bio-fertilizers usually have about 20% more roots than plants grown with chemical fertilizers.
They alleviate rural poverty by making agriculture more profitable and successful. They prevent the drift into urban areas by rehabilitating the soil and reviving agriculture where it has failed due to over-use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides.
Section 5: 100% Organic Farming - The Benefits for Farmers
In 100% organic farming the increase varies a lot – sometimes 30% higher than chemical fertilizers and sometimes up to even 100%, though the latter is much less common. The increase goes up with each season as the soil is made more fertile.
When Bio-Plant is used in the soil preparation its fertility is usually restored in about 3 years, so farmers report. With this in mind, the government subsidy for fertilizer could easily be stopped as the farmers’ fertilizer costs are much lower than with chemical fertilizers and the yield higher.
Toxic pesticides can be halved and phased out as the plants become healthier and their immune system becomes stronger. Indeed, we ask farmers to stop using them as soon as they start to use Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant.
Farmers can receive higher prices for their 100% organic produce.
Section 6: Comparison of the Absorption of Pro-Plant and NPK 15:15:15
When a farmer applies NPK 15:15:15 to the soil, the crop does not receive this amount of NPK. When it mixes with water or rain, only a small part dissolves, namely:
N: 30% dissolves. Therefore, N 15 becomes N 4.5.
P: 5% dissolves. Therefore, P 15 becomes P 0.75.
K: 7% dissolves. Therefore, K 15 becomes K 1.05.
Of this, only 20% is absorbed by the roots, so the plants get even less, as follows:
N: Therefore, N 4.5 becomes N 0.9.
P: Therefore, P 0.75 becomes P 0.15.
K: Therefore, K 15 becomes K 0.21.
In short, 80% is lost in the soil, undissolved and unabsorbed.
In comparison, all of the NPK in Pro-Plant is absorbed by the plant either through the leaves or the roots because of the microbial action on the minerals.
N : 5.0 %
P2O5 : 0.9 %
K2O : 1.2 %
MgO : 0.1 %
CaO : 2.5 %
S : 0.3 %
B : 0.006 %
Cl : 11.4 %
Mn : 0.0002 %
Zn : 34.8 ppm.
Fe : 181.2 ppm.
Cu : 2.2 ppm.
Mo : 2.4 ppm.
Section 7: The Benefits of Using Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant for Bio-Chemical Farming
When 330 cc of Bio-Plant is mixed with a 50 kgs. bag of chemical fertilizer and used for bio-chemical farming the farmers can reduce by 50% the amount of chemical fertilizer and pesticides that they use. The yield will still be at least what the farmers get with chemical fertilizers, and it is usually 5%-10% higher. The increase in the yield will be at least 25% higher when Bio-Plant is used in the seed and soil preparation, and Pro-Plant is sprayed on the leaves. In Year 2 and Year 3 farmers can reduce their chemical fertilizer by 25% each year until after 3 years they are not using chemicals anymore, and they will have a higher yield for much lower costs. Bio-chemical farming enables chemical farmers to make the changeover gradually and at a speed that they can work with and accept.
Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant can transform agriculture and enable a country to phase out chemical fertilizers. We provide a Credit Fund in the form of the bio-fertilizers to help governments to do so.
Farmers do not usually like to change their habits, so bio-chemical farming would be the best way to start. In this way the farmers can halve the amount of chemical fertilizer they use by mixing 330 cc of Bio-Plant with every 50 kgs bag. This will increase the yield by 5%-10%.
By spraying the leaves with Pro-Plant the yield can be increased another 15%-20%. By preparing the seeds and soil using Bio-Plant another 10% can be added. The costs will also drop by about 35% compared to chemical fertilizer. In each successive year the farmers can reduce the amount of chemical fertilizer by 25% more until at the end of Year 3 they are farming 100% organically and willingly.
For the best results in bio-chemical farming, also prepare the seeds with Bio-Plant; prepare the soil with Bio-Plant mixed with plenty of organic matter (1 litre of Bio-Plant mixed with 5 tonnes of organic matter per hectare); and spray Pro-Plant onto the leaves, flowers, and the resulting seeds. There are different ways to increase the rate of multiplication of the micro-organisms in Bio-Plant.
A country will be able to halve its imports of chemical fertilizer and phase out the fertilizer subsidy because the farmers will not only be using half the amount of chemical fertilizer, but they will also be increasing their yield by up to 30% – assuming that they prepare the soil with Bio-Plant.
Bio-chemical farming in this way enables farmers to make the changeover gradually. It also puts the decision in their hands, and when they see the benefits, they make the decision to stop chemical farming and to become organic farmers. They do not need to be told to do it. Some stay with bio-chemical farming, of course, but that is fine.
Chemical farmers will move away from chemicals, but you have to help them to do it in a way they can accept, which is a phased way. Bio-chemical farming provides the phased way and enables them to carry on using granular fertilizer, though gradually less and less, and they feel safe with this approach.
The action of the micro-organisms turns the granular fertilizer into a factory mass-producing the very micro-organisms, which the soil is lacking. This is why they can halve the amount of Urea / NPK / DAP / etc., that they use. The farmers see that by using half the amount of chemical fertilizer they can still get at least the same yield, and there is actually usually a small increase. Their costs will go down by about 40%-45% as well.
If they are happy with just saving costs, then they can carry on in this way. If they want to increase their yield by about 30%, and phase out another 25% of their chemical fertilizers in Year 2, then they need to get used to some of the habits of organic farming, namely soil preparation (with Bio-Plant) and spraying leaves with a foliar spray (Pro-Plant). We find that farmers will do this as they see that they can reduce their costs more and increase their yield. In Year 3 they can stop using the final 25% of their chemical fertilizers. Bio-chemical farming empowers the farmers and puts them in the driving seat of change. They seem to like this.
After 3 years the farmers will be farming 100% organically and just using the liquid bio-fertilizers with a higher yield than they got with chemical fertilizers and at a lower cost. A phased change is much better as the farmers have to get used to 100% organic farming, and to changing their habits gradually. Also, this approach gives the soil time to recover through the infusion of micro-organisms, which the chemicals have usually killed off, in preparation for 100% organic farming.
They can also save more money by stopping to use chemical sprays in Year 1 as they are no longer needed. The plant’s immune system becomes stronger and stronger through the effect of the micro-organisms in Bio-Plant while Pro-Plant protects the leaves from disease.
The bio-technology of the liquid bio-fertilizers in their liquid form is superior to the old style technology of the granular form. They feed the plants and restore the fertility of the soil. When you spray Pro-Plant on the leaves, the minerals go into the leaf straight away and the leaves are coated with disease-protecting micro-organisms. When minerals go through the soil and the roots, they take much longer to get to the leaves. This is why the effect of Pro-Plant on vegetables and leafy crops can be seen so quickly.
Section 8: Comparison of the Costs of Bio-chemical Farming vs. Chemical Farming
The farmers will be able to halve the amount of granular fertilizer they use. For example: instead of using 4 bags of 15:15:15 the farmers will be able to use just 2 bags of the bio-chemical mixture to do the work of the 4 bags of the NPK15:15:15. Their costs will go down about 45% and the yield will be higher. They can test this.
If the chemical fertilizer producer charges US$30 for a 50 kgs bag of Urea and US$35 for a 50 kgs bag of NPK 15:15:15, for example, at present a farmer will be buying 3 bags of urea (US$90) and 3 bags of NPK 15:15:15 (US$105) per hectare. Total US$195.
This is good for the chemical fertilizer producers, but not good for the farmers, who know that they are suffering from using chemical fertilizer.
If the chemical fertilizer producer sells bio-chemical fertilizer, the farmers will only have to buy 1.5 bags of bio-chemical Urea (about US$55, if we assume that the farmer’s price for the bio-fertilizers is US$16 per litre) and 1.5 bags of bio-chemical NPK (about US$62) per hectare. Total US$117.
The farmers will buy the bio-chemical fertilizer because they can almost halve their costs while getting at least the same yield. At the same time, they will have almost no problems with disease and insects, so they will save costs there too. Also, the condition of their soil will improve, and this will affect the quality of the crops.
By spraying the leaves with Pro-Plant (2.5-3 litres per hectare for a 3-month crop), farmers can add 25% upwards to their yield very quickly. Each year the soil’s fertility will improve with the Bio-Plant and Pro-Plant, and this 25% will increase further. In Thailand the increase is usually 45%-50% after 3 years, but those farmers prepare the soil and seeds with Bio-Plant as well.
The farmers will change to bio-chemical farming.
Section 9: Bio-Plant Enables Roots to Absorb the 80% of NPK Unused by Plants
