Philippine University Grants Private Firm Exclusive Rights to Bio-N Fertilizer

University of the Philippines Los Baños awarded exclusive commercial rights for Bio-N to Agri Specialist Inc. in 2023 after government-supported production fell sharply. Bio-N is a microbial fertilizer developed at UPLB that improves nitrogen uptake in rice, corn, and vegetable crops. Researchers began work on the product in 1985 under Dr. Mercedes Umali-Garcia.

Agriculture funded 83 mixing plants nationwide in 2004 to distribute Bio-N to smallholder farmers. By 2022 only 20 percent of those plants remained operational, with documented inconsistencies in product quality and project support. Julieta Anarna, the UPLB researcher who succeeded Dr.

Umali-Garcia as project leader, said the 2004 fertilizer fund controversy disrupted operations and funding. Anarna received the 2025 Gregorio Y. Zara Outstanding Technology Commercialization Award for her work promoting biofertilizers.

, invested P300 million to build a factory in Laguna. The facility produces 70,000 packets daily using clay as the bacterial carrier instead of charcoal. UPLB retains ownership of the underlying technology and receives three percent of royalties. The company distributes Bio-N to farmers’ groups, including a recent shipment of 575 sacks to five provinces in Calabarzon.

UPLB responded that multiple groups submitted licensing proposals and that licensing is one recognized path for technology transfer. Labadan said other companies produce different biofertilizer formulas and that two prior firms had received Bio-N licenses. The Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority lists at least 61 registered biofertilizer products as of May 15.