Get wealth for small farmers with simple vermiculture

Vermiculture technology for small farmers:
by G.Venkataramani, Agriculture corresponden

A simple system of vermiculture (rearing earthworms) for rapid decomposition of organic farm and home residues has been designed by an eco-technologist at Chennai, India. "This vermi-composting method can be adopted by small farmers and resource-poor marginal farmers to get wealth from waste" explains Dr. Sultan Ismail, Professor of Zoology at New College, Chennai.

Vermiculture is easy to practise, and uses only indigenous worms. The farmer rears them in pits 3m long, 1m wide and 1m deep, which can be easily dug with family labour. At the bottom of the pits, broken bits of earthen pots and broken bricks are laid to provide adequate drainage. Over that a 2.5cm layer of soil is spread and spats of fresh cowdung sprinkled. Vermi-compost production on cotton wasteAbout 500 earthworms (all collected locally) may then be introduced in the pit, and covered with a thin layer of rice straw. Water should be splashed evenly over the last layer, and the pit covered with coconut fronds to protect the worms from sun and predatory birds.
Worms

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"We recommend a composite culture of worms, which include burrowing types, surface feeders and column feeders. They do not compete with each other for food, and water, but on the contrary they are complimentary in nature" explains Dr. Ismail.

After an incubation period of 30 days, when the worms should have multiplied several fold, the farmers can start charging the pits with all kinds of organic residues. Each time a layer of 5 cm can be added and, after spreading them evenly, a thin layer of soil should be used to cover the organic residues. The pits can be charged once in three days till the level reaches to just a few centimeters from the top. Regular watering should be done to keep the right amount of moisture in the pits. In another 90 days, the worms would have done their job well, as indicated by the earthworm castings on the topmost layer of the bed.

Farmers can collect the vermi-compost by digging out all the material from the pit. They should keep the material in a heap in the sun so that all the worms move down to the cool base of the heap. The farmers can then remove the top portions safely, powder the compost and sieve before applying to the fields. The worms collected at the base can be used for inoculating new vermi-composting pits. The quality of vermi-compost is far superior to other composts in terms of nutrients and other plant growth promoting substances. The cost of making 0.5 tonnes of vermi-compost is approx. Rs. 600 (about US $ 15), which the farmers can sell for Rs. 1,500 (about US $ 37.50). Three such vermi-composting pits in a farm of 0.4 hectare can meet the entire nutrient demands of most crops raised in such, according to crop experts.

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