NPK Applications: Improving Over the Years?

Daphne L. KitonganSocioeconomics Division

14%

Fertilizer cost share to

total production cost • What do farmers “feed” their

rice?

• How much fertilizer do they use?

• How frequent do they feed their

rice plants?

• When do they feed their rice?

• Do they get their money’s worth?

93 94 94 95 97

1 1 2 1 10 0 0 0 0

6 6 4 41

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1996 2001 2006 2011 2016

Inorganic

Inorganic-organic

Organic

None

What do farmers “feed” their rice?% of farmers Wet Season

What do farmers “feed” their rice?91 93 94 95

0 1 1 10 0 0

96 5 4

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1997 2002 2007 2012

Inorganic

Inorganic-organic

Organic

None

% of farmers Dry Season

Commonly used Inorganic fertilizer,From 1996-2016

Urea 14-14-14

Ammonium

Sulfate

Ammonium

Phosphate

Ammonium

Sulfate

14-14-14

How much fertilizer do they use?

Inorganic Fertilizer(bag/ha)

2011WS 2012DS 2016WS

Ammonium Sulfate (21-0-0) 0.65 0.68 0.77

Urea (45-0-0) 0.33 0.33 0.15

Urea (46-0-0) 1.92 1.89 2.78

Complete (14-14-14) 1.50 1.62 2.00

Ammonium Phosphate (16-20-0) 0.46 0.47 0.57

Muriate of Potash (0-0-60) 0.02 0.03 0.10

Potassium nitrate (17-0-17) 0.06 0.05 0.07

Other Inorganic 0.09 0.07 0.10

Total 5.04 5.16 6.53

Average NPK used

62

74 76 74

95

7 7 7 7 99 9 10 1015

0

20

40

60

80

100

1996 2001 2006 2011 2016

Wet Season

Nitrogen (N)

Phosphorus (P)

Potassium (K)

kg ha-1

General

Recommended NPK

WS: 90-40-40Wet Season

Average NPK used, DS

60

7378

74

7 7 8 79 9 11 11

0

20

40

60

80

100

1997 2002 2007 2012

Dry Season

Nitrogen (N)

Phosphorus (P)

Potassium (K)

kg ha-1

General

Recommended NPK

DS: 120-40-40Dry Season

Difference between the actual NPK and recommended rates

7 kg ha-1

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

ws ds ws ds ws ds ws ds ws

1996 1997 2001 2002 2006 2007 2011 2012 2016

Average of Nd Average of Pd Average of Kd

recommended

WS

7 kg ha-1

WSDS WSDS DS DS

Percent of Farmers by NPK level

55%

45%

Nitrogen (N)

Below 90 kg/ha

Above 90 kg/ha

99%

1%

Phosphorous (P)

Below 40 kg/ha

Above 40 kg/ha

92%

8%

Potassium (K)

Below 40 kg/ha

Above 40 kg/ha

2016 WSRecommended NPK

WS: 90-40-40

N Used in 2016 WS

Legend

Recommended NPK

WS:90-40-40

Province:>90kg/ha

Apayao

Kalinga

Cagayan

Nueva Vizcaya

Isabela

Ilocos Norte

Pangasinan

Nueva Ecija

Aurora

Pampanga

Tarlac

Laguna

Occidental Mindoro

Oriental Mindoro

Antique

Capiz

Iloilo

Negros Occidental

Davao del Sur

Davao Oriental

South Cotabato

Sultan Kudarat

Zamboanga Del Norte

Province: <90kg/ha

Bulacan

Palawan

Quezon

Bohol

Leyte

Agusan del Norte

Agusan del Sur

Bukidnon

Compostela Valley

Davao del Norte

Lanao Del Sur

Maguindanao

North Cotabato

Zamboanga del Sur

Zamboanga Sibugay

P Use in 2016WS

Legend Prov: 10-20kg/ha

Apayao

Aurora

Ilocos Norte

Isabela

Nueva Ecija

Nueva Vizcaya

Pangasinan

Tarlac

Capiz

Iloilo

Davao del Sur

Davao Oriental

Zamboanga Del Norte

Province: <10kg/haBulacan

Cagayan

Kalinga

Laguna

Occidental Mindoro

Oriental Mindoro

Palawan

Pampanga

Quezon

Antique

Bohol

Leyte

Negros Occidental

Agusan del Norte

Agusan del Sur

Bukidnon

Compostela Valley

Davao del Norte

Lanao Del Sur

Maguindanao

North Cotabato

South Cotabato

Sultan Kudarat

Zamboanga del Sur

Zamboanga Sibugay

Recommended NPK

WS:90-40-40

K Use

2016WS

Legend

Province: >20kg/ha

Apayao

Aurora

Ilocos Norte

Nueva Ecija

Pangasinan

Davao del Norte

Davao del Sur

Davao Oriental

Prov: <10kg/ha

Cagayan

Kalinga

Pampanga

Capiz

Leyte

Lanao Del Sur

Maguindanao

North Cotabato

Sultan Kudarat

Recommended NPK

WS:90-40-40

How frequent do they feed their rice plants?

Crop stage/frequencyWS DS

2006 2011 2016 2007 2012

Ave. no. of application 2.5 2.6 2.7 1.8 2.5

Seedbed* (%)

once 84 54 54 53 52

twice 16 12 34 4 10

thrice 0 1 11 0 0

Pre-standing (%)

once 0 7 6 9 8

Standing (%)

once 20 17 16 25 19

twice 58 62 57 53 58

thrice 13 13 22 14 15

4 or more 3 3 2 4 4

Frequency of

Application

Farmers (%)Average DAS/DAT (2016 WS)

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th

Once 14 21

2x 56 16 43

3x 23 14 35 46

4x or more 3 11 30 43 55 65 68 84 98

When do they feed their rice?

Recommended App (3x) 0-14 28-32 42-46

Do they get their money’s worth?

Yield at 14% MC (kg ha-1)

2.71 2.66

3.05 3.152.91

3.42 3.39

3.803.95 3.84

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

1996 2001 2006 2011 2016

Wet Season

below 90 kg ha-1

90 kg ha-1 and above

mt ha-1

Target Yield: 5 mt/ha

2.82 2.88

3.29

2.56

3.92 3.91

4.474.68

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

5.00

1997 2002 2007 2012

Dry Season

below 120 kg ha-1

120 kg ha-1 and above

mt ha-1

Yield at 14% MC (kg ha-1)

Target Yield: 6-7 mt/ha

Comparative prices of N

23

15

8

4

2120

0

5

10

15

20

25

Philippines China Indonesia India Thailand Vietnam

PhP kg-1

Source: Manalili et al., 2016

Adoption of Technologies,2016WS

1.2

9.64

8.36

3.25

1.23

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Minus-one element technique (MOET)

Basal Fertilizer Application

Organic Fertilizer Application

Leaf Color Chart

Rice Crop Manager (RCM)

Percent of Farmer (%)

Tech

no

log

ies

Conclusion

• Generally, farmers practice on NPK application is almost the same through the years.

• With 45% adopters of recommended N rate, 1 province achieved the expected yield of 5 mt/ha (Davao Oriental, 5.47 mt/ha).

• Low adoption of recommended nutrient management such as proper amount of NPK, frequency and right timing of applications

• From 1996-2016 farmers applying the recommended NPK rates have significantly higher yield

• Price is one of the constraints to adoption. Price of N was highest in the Philippines compared to other major rice producing countries (Manalili et al., 2016).

• Other technologies/practices related to nutrient management with low adoption are RCM, LCC, Organic and Basal Application, MOET (2016 WS).

Recommendations

• There is still a need to improve the extension activities on nutrient management

• Proper amount, greater frequency and right timing of fertilizers especially N should be given emphasis to get the full potential of this input in obtaining higher yield. A greater frequency of application could improve the efficiency of nutrient uptake of the rice plant. This could be addressed by intensifying dissemination of information on nutrient management technologies and tools such as the LCC and RCM.

Thank you!Socioeconomics Division

Rhemilyn Z. Relado

Jesusa C. Beltran

Imelda A. Arida

Rowena G. Manalili

Alice B. Mataia

Aileen C. Litonjua

Ronell B. Malasa

Nefriend M. Francisco

Adrielle C. Flores

Maria Juvail T. Antivo

Chona A. Parayno

May Angelica A. Saldudez

Romualdo R. Quiroz