Making a living with Worms: A sustainable Agri-Venture
They gross some out 🤢. But they can make you money 🤑!
Have you ever asked yourself, how worms can generate cash? Here is how. Follow closely.
Vermiculture is the cultivation of earthworms especially for use in composting and production of organic fertilizer. Vermiculture has been a viable commercial business for the past few years.
Kenya imports 22,000 tonnes of synthetic fertilizer annually to boost food production in the region. But this can be solved by shifting into organic-based fertilizers, such as Vermicompost.
The best types of worms for vermicomposting are red wigglers (Eisenia fetida) and redworms (Lumbricus rubellus). These two species make great worms for the compost bin because they prefer a compost environment to plain soil, and they are very easy to keep. Worms that feed on vegetable waste, compost, and organic bedding produce richer casting than those that feed on plain soil.
Vermicompost is richer in essential plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium than traditional compost. It also contains microbes that help plants grow.
Earthworms are known to consume food equivalent to their body weight every day. Composted manure and other substrates like kitchen waste are digested by the earthworms resulting in a dark, rich, earthly smelling fertilizer and soil amendment that is full both of primary and micronutrients readily available to plants. In addition to nutrients and biology, worm casting also improves the physical property of the soil by improving tilt, ferocity, and moisture-holding capacity of the soil.
At Cornell University, Researchers have found out that adding vermicompost to soil reduces insect pests and plant diseases in certain field and greenhouse crops including corn, wheat, pea, cucumber, and tomato. In addition, US vineyard owners using vermicompost as fertilizer reported that there is a difference in the taste and flavor intensity of the wine they produced.
Earthworms are hermaphrodites; each earthworm contains both male and female sex. They double their number every month. For Example, One kilogram of earthworms (approx. 1500 worms) fed very well and given the right moisture and protection from predators at the beginning of January, can multiply and increase their number to approximately 4000 kilograms at the end of December.
It is evident that after 1 year of operation, a worm farmer should be producing 2–3 tonnes of organic fertilizer every day. Vermicompost is sold at 1USD/kg. Earthworms are also sold at 25USD/kg to those who want to start a worm farm. Other by-products include a vermi-tea and vermi-juice. These are highly concentrated liquid (1USD/litre) which are diluted with water before applied to plants. They are found to increase the quality and quantity of yield per acre.
It therefore becomes a great deal, to use vermicompost as a sustainable alternative to inorganic fertilizer!
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