12 Jun Vermicomposting: Transforming Garbage into gold
Continuous use of chemical fertilizers over the years without caring for maintaining the soil balance has become counterproductive. Scientists are getting concerned about the situation and suggesting to use bio-fertilizers and other organic manures in adequate quantities in order to maintain the soil balance. Farmers are now convinced about the important of organic manures but availability of the good quality organic manures is the problem. The vermi-compost production would be a viable option to produce the good quality compost in short time. A growing number of individuals and institutions are taking interest in the production of compost utilizing earthworm activity. Krishi Vigyan Kendra-Jammu is giving free training for this technology to the farmers and field functionaries of the line departments. Vermicompost is produced as the vermi-cast by earth worms feeding on biological waste material and plant residues. This compost is an odour less, clean organic material containing adequate quantities of N, P, K and several micro-nutrients essential for plant growth. About 25-50 per cent of nitrogen can be reduced by adding 10 tones vermi-compost per hectare. It not only saves the cost of fertilizers but also increases the yield by 5-10 per cent. Besides higher concentration of available nutrients than the ordinary FYM, it has also been reported to enhance plants ability to fight...