Article: Friendly Crawlers

Wednesday April 22, 2009

Home for useful wigglers

By ANTHONY TAN

WHAT are some 80,000 earthworms doing at the premises of the Consu-mers Association of Penang (CAP)? A lot it seems.

While many of them are busy reproducing, others are feeding on organic matter to produce vermicast which is used as an organic fertiliser.

CAP started breeding earthworms and producing vermicast, which is actually worm poo, since three years ago as part of its programme to promote sustainable agriculture and organic farming.

Its education officer N. V. Subbarow estima-ted that there were now 80,000 worms at the earthworm breeding and vermicast producing section at CAP’s premises on Jalan Mesjid Negeri in Penang.

The section, which is called Vermihome, doubles as a training centre for those interested to learn about earthworm breeding, vermicast production and natural farming methods, including setting up a compost bed and recycling kitchen and garden wastes.

These earthworms feed on organic matter to produce vermicast which is ideal as organic fertiliser.

Paying tribute to the earthworms in conjunction with World Earth Day today, Subbarow said the wriggly creatures were friends of farmers.

“As they tunnel through the soil to search for food, they render farmers a great service by turning over the soil and aerating it,” he said in an interview.

He said CAP sold the earthworms, at RM1 each, to farmers and individuals who used them to produce their own vermicast or even for breeding.

Subbarow said CAP had also given the worms free to schools for their organic farming projects.

He said five schools whose students and teachers visited Vermihome for training had started their own organic farming projects, adding that CAP staff members visited these schools periodically to monitor the progress of the projects and provide advice.

Subbarow said Vermihome produced some 10kg of vermicast daily which are bought by regular buyers at RM3 per bag of one kilogramme.

Don’t mistake the vermicast for black- coloured soil though and dump the whole bag into a pot. Remember, it’s a fertiliser!

Worker K. Acuran Mano tends to the worms at CAP's Vermihome.

“All you need to do is scatter a handful of the vermicast on top of the soil around your plant once a week,” said Subbarow while espousing the effectiveness of the fertiliser.

He said the fertiliser contained 19 types of minerals including nitrogen, calcium, manganese, sulphur and iodine which are absorbed easily and used by plants.

He said vermicast was a cheaper and healthier alternative to chemical fertiliser, adding that a lime farmer from Kulai in Johor who had been spending RM500 a month on chemical fertiliser reduced his cost to just RM150 a month when he switched to vermicast.

Subbarow said the worms bred and used to produce vermicast at Vermihome were the eisena fetida (red worm) and eudrilus eugeniae (African night crawler).

Besides vermicast, Subbarow said Vermihome also produced vermiwash, a foliar spray, which is prepared by letting water percolate through a column of soil containing earthworms active in their burrows as well as feeding on organic matter and coverting it into vermicompost.

The water, which trickles through these burrows and compost, gets collected at the base of the barrel as vermiwash.

Subbarow said some 2,000 farmers, teachers, students and members of the public had visited Vermihome where they learnt about organic farming, vermicast production and the advantages of natural farming methods.

Vermihome is the brainchild of CAP president S.M. Mohamed Idris. CAP has been promoting pesticide-free farming since the early 1990s.

And the association practises what it preaches. Its staff grow chilli plants in pots the organic way at the association’s compound.

Subbarow said schools and teachers were welcome to CAP’s Vermihome for study and training purposes. Those interested can call him at 04-8299511.

This article was taken from: The Star Online Newspaper: Metro: North T1 & T4, 22 April 2009