A NEW privately owned bio-organic fertiliser plant is expected to begin producing 12,000 tonnes of fertiliser a year starting in July following its test run period, said Dr Sein Myint, the chairman of Supreme Group of Companies, which operates the plant.

The plant is expected within three years to boost annual production to 54,000 tonnes.

Construction on the factory – situated on a 30-acre parcel of land in Pantanaw township, Ayerwaddy Division – began in November 2003.

During the test run, which began in January and finishes at the end of June, the plant has succeeded in producing 300 to 400 tonnes of bio-fertiliser a month, said Dr Sein Myint.

The factory was scheduled to increase production to 800 tonnes a month in July.

“We set up this new plant to fulfill the high demand for fertiliser in Myanmar – the country consumes at least 800,000 tonnes a year for paddy growing alone,” Dr Sein Myint told Myanmar Times last week.

A senior official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation said at a seminar early this year that he estimated Myanmar needed about two million tonnes of fertiliser a year.

Myanmar imports more than 700,000 tonnes of fertiliser a year on average.
The country’s three state-owned plants supply only 60,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser annually, according to government figures.

Bio-organic fertiliser can be distinguished from natural compost in that the former contains organic bacteria and soil fungi that allow the absorption of more water and nutrients for the benefit of the growing crops. Beneficial acids also encourage the growth of extended root systems.

Another characteristic of bio-fertilisers is that they act as conditioners by maintaining and nursing the soil.

Dr Sein Myint said it would take time for the factory to achieve its stated production goals since the supply of necessary raw materials was limited.
“The production of raw materials like water hyacinth, flotsam, kelp, green waste materials and seaweed needs to be overhauled to ensure that we have enough,” he said.

“According to our study the factory requires 20 tonnes of raw material to produce one tonne of fertiliser, which means that more than one million tonnes of raw materials are needed a year – so we should maintain about 1000 acres of wetlands near the factory to collect flotsam, kelp and seaweed,” said Dr Sein Myint.

The production process begins by collecting these raw materials and cutting them into standardised sizes. They are then mixed with enzymes and composted for 10 to 12 weeks at a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius.

“Our bio-fertiliser is now on the market in Ayarwaddy and Tanintharyi divisions, and Shan and Mon states, at a price of K100,000 a tonne, and we also provide technical assistance to farmers in rural areas,” Dr Sein Myint said.

More than 400 people will eventually be employed at the factory, up from the approximately 250 who are currently working there.

In the past two decades the availability of manure, which Myanmar farmers have traditionally applied as natural fertiliser, has sharply declined as the number of cows in the country has dropped due the mechanisation of the farming process, said Dr Sein Myint.

“At the same time, fertiliser consumption in farming has soared, so farmers have to buy imported fertiliser,” he said.