Panaji: Your neighbourhood farmer may just be your new source for organic compost at pocket-friendly prices.In a welcome move, many farmers across the state have taken to preparing their own vermicompost using organic waste from their farms and orchards. While the compost is used to improve the quality of soil on their farms, in an interesting entrepreneurial streak, the excess is being sold off for an affordable price of just Rs 18 per packet. The initiative has opened up a new income-boosting avenue for farmers.On the green front, the activity is benefiting the environment as there is a reduction in the amount of farm waster such as hay and dry leaves being burnt.According to the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), in North Goa alone, there are over 100 such ongoing projects.For the initiative, farmers purchase readymade vermicompost beds priced anywhere between Rs 3,000 to 4,500 from private agro-dealers registered with the agriculture department. The Eisenia Foetida earthworms, used specially for vermicomposting, are also supplied by the dealers. Alternatively, the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) at Old Goa is a source.“The Eisenia Foetida earthworms are especially used as they do not burrow into the soil. Also, they cannot survive without organic matter for consumption. This is advantageous as they convert organic matter into compost within just two months and therefore, compost is generated once every two months,” an agricultural officer said.An average vermicompost bed, that is 12x4 feet wide and two feet tall, generates up to one tonne of compost at a time, he said.Gasper Fernandes, a farmer from the touristic hub, Anjuna, has invested in seven such vermicomposting beds. “I use kitchen waste as well as farm waste such as dry leaves,” he says. Fernandes has a sizeable foreign clientele for the compost. “Some locals have expressed interest in replicating my enterprise,” he said.As selling of compost comes under the Fertilizer Control Order, proper licensing is required. For this, farmers have to get the nutrient content of the compost tested before venturing into sale. Testing can be undertaken at any government lab or even at the laboratory at the ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute (CCARI), Old Goa.“When farmers submit the soil samples, we analyse the nutrient content and give them a report. We can also list the composition of the soil if the farmers request so that they can display the nutrient content on the label,” said ICAR-CCARI, director, E Chakurkar. “While manure and neem cakes are still used by many farmers, vermicompost is a better organic soil enricher,” he said.

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