CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) has issued a public advisory against the use of Lactoplant Biofertilizer, a product of Lactobiotics Worldwide Corporation, for its alleged use of a tampered certification.
FPA said that the certification that they granted to Lactobiotics does not include the expansion of its label to already include rice and other crops. Expansion will only be allowed after the company complies with FPA requirements.
“A tampered certification circulating online was reported to the FPA regarding the agency’s issuance of certification to the Lactoplant Biofertilizer product of the Lactobiotics Worldwide Corporation, indicating its use for rice production management, considering the results of their demo trials in various locations,” the agency said in an advisory that was posted on its official Facebook page on Friday, August 16.
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“Please be advised that in the agency’s original certification, Lactobiotics Worldwide Corporation needs to conduct the required FPA Bioefficacy trial and submit all necessary documents to the agency for the label expansion registration of their product for rice and other crops,” it added.
Engineer Grecilda Sanchez, president and chief executive officer of LactoBiotics Worldwide Corporation, said that the release of the FPA advisory has already affected the delivery of their fertilizers to different regions in the country.
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Sachez said that their fertilizer is now being used in 164,000 hectares of rice farmlands.
Tampered certification
“To address the current issue LactoBiotics Worldwide Corporation, denies its involvement in the altered certification issued by the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority and strongly condemns the act of falsifying such certifications,” LactoBiotics Worldwide Corporation said in a statement.
In an interview, Sanchez said that the issue on their alleged use of a tampered certification started to proliferate on social media after they participated in the fertilizer voucher program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Barugo, Leyete, on Friday, August 16.
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Based on the purchased orders that they received, Sanchez said their company is set to deliver fertilizers for the 30,000 hectares of rice farmland in Region 12 and the 35,000 hectares of rice farmland in Region 8. They are also making deliveries for the 65,000 hectares of rice farmland in Tuguegarao; 15,000 hectares of rice farmland in Bohol; and another 20,000 hectares in Region 1.
Sanchez said that farmlands using their fertilizers are expected to harvest at least 20,532,701 bags of rice.
With this, she said that the FPA advisory will not only affect their company but also the farmers using their product and the country’s food security.
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“Dili lang sa ta mangaon. Ato lang sa ingnon ang farmers nga stop sa ta,” she said.
Bioefficacy trial
At present, Lactoplant was only given a certification for use on fruit trees and leafy vegetables.
Based on their certification, the company still needs to comply with the FPA bioefficacy trial and submit all the necessary documents for label expansion registration to already include rice and other crops.
However, Sanchez said that they have participated in different “Rice Techno Demo and Derbys,” wherein their product showed very promising outcome.
In fact, in the June 21 techno demo in Brgy. Gabi in Ubay, Bohol, Lactoplant was recognized as second “Best Biofertilizer and 1st “Highest in Actual Yield.”
The product also received the “High Yielding Award” and “Farmer’s Choice Award” from the Municipality of Carigara in Leyte and the “High Yielding Award” from the Provincial Agriculturist in Davao de Oro Province, among others.
Label Expansion
In addition, Sanchez said that Lactoplant has been registered by FPA since 2011 and is widely used in the Philippine agriculture market. The product has been in the market for the last 13 years.
Under Chapter III of the FPA’s Fertilizer Regulatory Policies and Implementing Guidelines, fertilizers that are water soluble and fully registered for 10 consecutive years no longer require Bioefficacy Data Generation.
With this, Sanchez said that they already requested and applied for an “all crops” certification from the FPA.
However, she admitted that the company was unable to renew its registration in 2021 and 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Unta ilang i-consider kay COVID adtong panahona. Gusto nila mobalik mi sa uno,” she said.
On July 28, 2024, LactoBiotics Worldwide Corporation also sent a request for consideration on the issuance of label expansion on the product registration of Lactoplant for all crops and full registration for their rice application.
Sanchez has also sought the assistance of Agri Partylist Rep. Wilbert Lee on the matter.