Dagupan City - Thirty-two now operational. And 20 more to be built. These are mixing plants for the now popular Bio-N, a microbial-based fertilizer that is emerging as a "technological wonder."

In the immediate future, more of these facilities are expected to emerge in various parts of the country.

The reason: No less than the Philippine Maize Federation (PhilMaize) is calling on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to encourage local government units (LGUs) and agricultural cooperatives to put up Bio-N mixing plants by providing financial and technical grants.

The recommendation of PhilMaize, a federation of multipurpose cooperatives in 11 regions of the country, was among those approved during the 4th Philippine National Corn Congress held in this Pangasinan City last May 4 - 5. The 2-day congress was sponsored by the DA Guinintuang Masaganang Ani - Corn Program and PhilMaize, and supported by national, regional, and international R&D and corporate entities.

During the conference, the congress also conferred an award of recognition on the Bio-N inventor, Dr. Mercedes Umali-Garcia, professor emeritus of UP Los Baños, "for her pioneering efforts in the production of Bio-N, a biological fertilizer, which has greatly benefited corn farmers."

The award was presented to Dr. Garcia by GMA-Corn Program director Dr. Jesus Binamira and PhilMaize immediate past president Roderico Bioco.

Dr. Garcia had earlier told this writer that 32 operational Bio-N mixing plants initially set up in strategic parts of the country have been accredited by the UPLB - National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (BIOTECH) and DA Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM).

Five of the 20 others in the pipeline will be bankrolled by the National Food Authority (NFA) Corn Development Fund. Of the five, four will be located in Mindanao and one in Luzon.

The sites of the remaining 15 have yet to be determined.

The Bio-N technology was developed by Dr. Garcia under a UPLB-BIOTECH research program . For the feat, she won the prestigious "Pantas" award, the highest conferred on an individual scientist by the Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Council for Agriculture , Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST - PCARRD).

The DA Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) has provided funds to promote Bio-N technology transfer, seminar, and training activities.

Instructional materials have been produced by the National Corn Research, Development and Extension (RDE) Network headed by Dr. Artemio Salazar. BIOTECH and the Technology Livelihood Resource Center have teamed up for the technology's commercialization . Others supporting the project are PCARRD and Marcos Foundation.

Bio-N, as described by UPLB-BIOTECH, is a "breakthrough technology" mainly composed of microorganisms (bacteria) isolated from the roots of "talahib", a grass relative of sugarcane that can convert nitrogen gas into available form to sustain the nitrogen requirements of host plants.

Bio-N comes in powder form in a handy 200-gram packet, which is meant for either seed inoculation, direct broadcasting over seeds, or mixed with water as root dip.

A plant, (corn, rice, vegetables) applied with Bio-N has more roots that absorb nutrients from the soil. Thus, the plant's yields are higher.

Grains of corn or rice grown with Bio-N are heavier than those applied only with fertilizer. Moreover, cost in fertilizer application is reduced by 50 - 75 percent.

Other advantages of Bio-N: It replaces 30-50 percent of the total amount of nitrogen , makes plants resistant to pests and droughts, and reduces incidences of rice tungro ( a destructive disease) and corn ear-worm attack.