AVANT GARDENER
Even though agriculture is seen as a waning industry, more and more people are waking up to the fact that it is an essential one that is integral to national security. Because of this, businessmen are slowly capitalizing on the industry’s potential, not just as a moneymaker, but as a way to support farmers and feed the nation.
Wellington Soong, chairman and president of Xanadu Agriproducts, never thought he’d end up in agriculture. The serial entrepreneur and former luxury car distributor’s venture into the fertilizer business happened by chance.
In 2017, just as he had let go of the luxury car business, he received an email from a Belgian diplomat he met in 1984, asking if he was interested in distributing a liquid fertilizer from Thailand. “I [said I] know nothing about agriculture, but… send me all the information, and I'll see what I can do for you. That was the only interest I had,” Soong said.
He took the samples and information and had it analyzed in UP Los Baños. “The product came out so well, that we got registered in the FDA in three months. [This] normally takes five years,” Soong shared, adding that they didn’t even know anyone in the Food and Drug Administration. “We just submitted the document. But UP Los Baños was the one that was validating all our documentation.”
He admits that at first, he thought of this as just another business. “But when I saw the potential of the product.., and if we succeed in getting [the efficacy of the products and the financial benefits to] most of the farmers, that would be my contribution to Philippine agriculture.”
Xanadu, named after the summer palace of Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, is a “range of standalone plant nutrition products for all types of crops,” though the company’s focus has so far been on rice, corn, and sugarcane. The company has been conducting intensive testing with various crops since late 2020.
“Our, primary objective is to help uplift the economic state of our farmers. So when we do our trials, we look at how the increase in yield impacts them financially. Because of course, that will translate to higher sales or higher revenue. At the same time, Xanadu offers cost savings against regular or average farmers' practices,” Executive Director Hazel Murphree explained.
The products cost less than traditional fertilizers, so farmers stand to save on inputs and expect an increase in harvests. According to their studies, farmers have observed anywhere between 15 to 60 percent increase. Their flyer says that the products have complete crop nutrition, efficient nutrient absorption, and are chelated, which means fast absorption.
The fertilizers, though not considered organic, have been tested as safe for the environment. “We are 100 percent eco-safe because the raw materials are biodegradable, food-safe, and non-toxic. So I always say, if I spray Xanadu on my house plants. I'm not scared to have my dog lick the leaves afterward, because it’s non-toxic. We don’t poison the bees, we don’t poison the soil microorganisms…And it directly supports sustainable farming because Xanadu has the capability of standing alone, at least for rice and corn… That means that the farmer can opt to just use Xanadu to fulfill their fertilization requirements,” Murphree said, adding that there’s also a rehabilitation aspect, as the products may add nutrition to the soil.
The product may be new, but the folks behind it have big plans. “Right now, we are committed to educating the farming community about this option.., that there's a new technology, a liquid fertilizer, that can fully cover the nutritional needs of their crops. This is different from the bio-fertilizers, which are soil conditioners. And so the focus is to increase the formal trials on expanding to other crops like cacao, coffee, onions, pineapple, sugarcane, [and] mango. So hopefully, the Philippines as a country can start exporting more crops rather than importing,” Murphree said.
Xanadu products are being distributed by UNAHCO (Univet Nutrition and Animal Healthcare Company), the animal nutrition and healthcare subsidiary of United Laboratories, Inc.
“This is still a business, but my hope is that this will be a life-changing product for the farmers, it will cost them less, it will give them bigger earnings because of higher produce, and it will even save our soil for the next generation,” Soong said. “If we become rice-independent, that's beyond the fulfillment of my dreams.”