The Vermi Compost Experience!

As I had mentioned earlier in a blog post, Vermi Compost is compost made from cow droppings, leaves, and other organic sources, that is enhanced by earthworms. The villagers use it as fertilizer on their crops, but many times they have excess compost left over.



One of the compost pits we checked out



Our job in the Agricultural Livelihood Department is to find a way to properly market the excess compost to someone who is willing to buy it. We have visited nurseries and hotels to find buyers, and have had some success. Today, instead, we went to many villages to "inspect" their compost and check the quality level (we dont want to send out a bunch of junk to our buyers). Many of the villagers' pits were not of high quality, as they didn't vary the compost contents, or they just had a bunch of trash in them. On the other hand there were quite a few that actually made compost of high quality and were making it properly. It was a tiring day, as we went to many villages to check thier compost pits, all the while walking through blistering heat or intense monsoons. In the end though, it was worth it, due to the fact that we gained much useful information.

After seeing some pits in poor condition, we came to the conclusion that this may be because many farmers dont know how to properly make Vermi Compost pits. Many times the government gives them money to build the pit, but doesnt really care about what the farmers do next (more on Indian gov't beauracracy and corruption in a future blog post). Anyways my job now is to research how exactly to make a pit in detail. We need to know exactly the proportions of each ingredients, and each step used to make the pits. We can then make a manual to train the farmers on how to make a proper pit. Then we will have better quality compost that we can successfully market for the them.