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Gladly open this can of worms
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The Aryad Panchayat in Alappuzha has adopted vermiculture as a means of organic farming. CHANDY JOHN says that this agrarian experiment, besides being environment friendly, raises health standards and perhaps others may take the cue.
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WHILE SHOPPING in any one of Kochi's supermarkets, a request for organic vegetables is always answered in the negative. But a small panchayat in Alappuzha district shows us the way forward by adopting vermiculture and thereby promoting organic agriculture as a means of sustainable development.
Aryad Panchayat president Usha Sudhakaran says that her panchayat has been promoting vermiculture-the process of recycling biodegradable waste into compost by breeding worms- for the past two years with the help of the Socio Economic Foundation, Alappuzha. The project has now received greater impetus with the Rotary Club of Alappauzha East adopting the panchayat. "The Rotary Club is training and providing the necessary materials to 35 housewives from the panchayat, who will, in turn, train others,'' she explains. According to Mr Ajit Mathai, a Kodaikanal-based organic farmer engaged in actively promoting its cause, "The average housewife in Kerala is unaware of how harmful vegetables treated with chemical fertilisers and pesticides are. A commonly used innocuous vegetable like the brinjal is subjected to repeated doses of harmful fertilisers; so that when it finally reaches the supermarket shelves, it is packed with chemicals. There is an urgent need to educate housewives and other shoppers of the benefits of organic farming.''
Vermiculture is a source of income from waste and has some definite advantages. It requires low investment and yields a purely organic and cheap fertiliser; the worms, which breed quickly, and the compost can be sold; and the waste can be recycled in one's own backyard, which saves transport costs. Also, vermiculture is capable of recycling 20 per cent of the total waste generated. Though organic compost is easily available, most people are unaware of this.
While conducting a workshop on vermiculture at the Socio Economic Unit Foundation (SEUF), Alappuzha, an NGO that is mainly concerned with environmental sanitation in Alappuzha, Mr Sreedharan Pillai, an environmental and social activist, adds health benefits to the long tally of benefits accruing from vermiculture. He says that using organic fertiliser will help check water-borne diseases apart from keeping the neighbourhood clean. Mr Pillai, while spelling out the economic benefits, says that the compost can be sold for Rs 5 or more per kg, which is less than half the price of its more toxic counterpart. The worms can also be sold for 50 paise each. 30 worms per square foot area, he says, will multiply to 280 worms within 50 to 60 days and a 75 square foot tank can generate a tonne of compost within the same time. The worms can be bought from or sold to SEUF, which runs a worm club in the panchayat. And all that is required is a concrete tank or plastic container, a little powdered coconut husk and cow dung and waste. Anything from kitchen waste to dead leaves can be turned into compost. He dispels the misnomer that earthworms are used in vermiculture.
Mr Pillai explains that though there are around 3,000 species of worms, only a few can be used in vermiculture or vermicomposting as it is also commonly referred to. The worms that they use are the EizeniaFetida and Udrillus Eugenia, originally from Africa, but now being bred within the country. As long as they are shielded from natural enemies like ants, rats and frogs and direct sunlight, they have an average lifespan of four-and-a-half years. A training co-ordinator at SEUF opines, "People in the panchayat are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of organic fertilisers. What is positive is that we find a lot of people prefer organic fertilisers, which wasn't the case only a few years back.''
So it is not surprising when you hear Retired Air Commodore V. V. Nair, president of Rotary Club of Alappuzha East, confidently stating that Aryad Panchayat is poised to become a model panchayat within the State in terms of environmental and health standards.
Perhaps others may take the cue.
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