Enriched vermicompost production: A success story of Ratlam Farmer from Malwa Region of Madhya Pradesh
Sushil Kumar1 & Sarvesh Tripathi2
1SMS, Krishi Vigyan Kendra Jaora, Ratlam-457340
2Senior Scientist & Head, Krishi Vigyan Kendra Jaora, Ratlam-457340
Introduction
Vermicomposting is the process of producing compost by utilizing earthworms passing out through the digestive systems to turn the organic waste into high-quality compost that consists mainly of worm cast in addition to decayed organic matter that are rich in bacteria and plant nutrients.
Vermicomposting have valuable outcome on plant growth due to existence of macro and micro nutrients and it is an important component of organic farming systems, because it I easy to prepare, cost effective, handling and contain high nutrients with growth hormones and are 4-5 times powerful growth promoter than all other organic fertilizers and over 30- 40% higher than the chemical fertilizer.
Success story of Mr. Govind Patidar
Mr. Govind Patidar S/O Hariram patidar, born in 13th March 1996 and completed his education up to Matric, is resident of Ranayara village under Piploda Tehsil of Ratlam district in Madhya Pradesh, India after that he competed the Bachelor of Technology (B- Tech) in Mechanical Engineering from Rajasthan Technical University, Jaipur. He started commercial cultivation of traditional crops of soybean, maize, wheat, chickpea and some vegetable at his 5 acres of land but always tried to incorporate recent technologies in practice. After coming in contact with Krishi Vigyan Kendra Jaaora, Ratlam scientists in the year 2021 during Farmers and Farm women Training programme he has started his own vermicompost unit at large scale on scientific basis.
In the meantime he undertook training on vermicompost production, and this center supplied 5 bags of plastic vermibed and worms to this farmer to encourage his work, today with this setup of technology he is receiving more demand of vermicompost not only from farmers but also from line departments and business man .
He initiated production of vermicompost with the help of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Jaora, Ratlam at very small level i.e. with 1 Vermi bed in 2020-2021 and during 2023-24 he reached at about 10 Vermi bed and producing over 15 tons of quality vermicompost per annum. He has started improving the quality of vermicompost through mixing biocontrol agents such as Tricoderma viridae and N.P.K. consortia (A biofertilizer that is a consortium of Rhizobium, Azotobacter and Acetobacter, Phospho Bacteria- Psuedomonus and Potassium Solution-Baciles bacteria which are atmospheric nitrogen and phosphorus fixing organisms. N.P.K. Consortia has higher efficiency in Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and potassium fixing and has the ability to drive atmospheric Nitrogen and provide it to plants). By adding these biocontrol agents, he has done value addition to vermicompost and started selling his product at a cost of Rs.10/- per kg as a name of Go-Shakti Bhumi Sudharak. Whereas earlier he had sold the vermicompost @Rs.8/kg. Hence he is gaining good amount of profit through value addition of vermicompost and his planning is to extend this business to the other districts of Madhya Pradesh. He started supply surplus quantity of vermicompost to other farmers throughout the Ratlam district. His success story is inspirational to the farmers working in Agriculture and allied sectors.
He is having his own agriculture land and a dairy farm with 26 Gir cattle’s. He is interested in raising agriculture crops in an organic way after this training programme.
Role of Krishi Vigyan Kendra:-
After coming in contact with Krishi Vigyan Kendra Jaora, Ratlam, Animal Science Scientist, he started his own Vermicompost unit. In the intervening time he take on training on Vermicompost production and the Krishi Vigyan Kendra Scientist provide him all the technical support on the following points-
- Site selection is most important for construction of vermipit.
- Species of earthworms to be used in vermipit.
- Vermicomposting unit pit/floor should prepare cemented to prevent downward migration of worms.
- Avoid fresh dung and waste because worms would die in fresh cow dung due to excess heat.
- Maintained proper aeration for proper growth and multiplication of earthworms.
- Optimum moisture level (50-60%) and temperature (25-320C) maintained for proper functioning of worms.
Outcome and Output:-
He had assembled 10 vermipit (Size 10X4X2 ft) and used Eisenia fetida species of earthworms. These worms thrive in rotting vegetation, compost and manure. They are epigean, rarely found in soil. This was verified to be a successful project with the first harvest after 4 months to be 525 kg from one vermipit. There after 2300 Kg of Vermicompost were collected in three batches. Vermicomposting proves to be a profitable source of income where a net return of Rs 22000 and BC ratio of 1:2.04 was achieved. The farmers can sell the products enticing them good price and at the same time they are able to use the compost for their agriculture farming.
Table-1 Benefit and Cost ratio of vermicompost production
| Cost of Vermicompost production in 4 months (Rs.) | Gross income(Rs.) | Net income(Rs.) | B.C. Ratio |
| 45000 | 67000 | 22000 | 1:2.04 |
Conclusion:-
By this case study it can be concluded that farmer like Mr. Govind Patidar who has implemented vermicompost production, augmenting their livelihood status, improving soil health and conserving valuable soil micro-organisms. He has done value addition to the produced vermicompost by adding up biocontrol agents such as Tricoderma viridae and NPK consortia and improved the quality product which is demanded by nearby farmers, and non-government organizations. Furthermore, he is motivating observant farmers to prepare this multifunctional quality product on their own agriculture farms so that farming community can be promoted.
