The Department of Agriculture (DA) has advised farmers in the Calabarzon Region to test soil quality first before planting to ensure higher crop yield and contribute more to the country’s food security.

In an interview on Wednesday, Shermark Navarro, Agriculturist I of the Regional Soils Laboratory (RSL), said their laboratory assists farmers in analyzing the soil to know if it is fertile and gives technical assistance for the correct use of fertilizers.

“It is very important that we analyze the soil especially for growers. We can see if the soil level is still good so that we can give them a good fertilizer that depends on the results of the soil testing and achieve a good harvest,” Navarro said.

According to Navarro, the sample needs to be dried before being brought to the laboratory where agriculturists and chemists can test the different nutrients that are still available in the soil.

“We need to determine the PH level to know the level of the soil, whether it is acidic or alkaline, as well as the organic matter like phosphorus and potassium. It also includes what we call routine analysis, macro- and micronutrients,” he added.

Navarro noted that RSL is also teaching the local government units (LGUs) the proper procedure for extracting samples to speed up the testing process.

Farmers can bring their letter of request signed by the municipal agriculturist to avail of free services while students and academe officials doing research activities can also avail of a 50-percent discount, he added.

The DA is stepping up efforts to encourage farmers to use modern means to maximize productivity in light of recent shortages in certain crops, which contributed significantly to food inflation.

It can be recalled that an onion shortage caused by low production in the fourth quarter of 2022 sent prices of the commodity to unprecedented levels.

Additionally, Navarro said RSL also tests organic and inorganic fertilizer and plant tissue analysis, aside from soil analysis.

“There are suppliers who bring the organic fertilizer here first to see if it is really organic because sometimes, it is no longer pure organic,” he said.

He explained that good organic fertilizer is sometimes able to sufficiently improve the quality of soil that would otherwise be unfit for farming. (PNA)