Home made fertilizer
Training small scale organic farmers through The Organic Farmer Support Program (kindly funded by BioVision) entailed teaching farmers how to construct a simple wormery. This exercise was always great fun. Before we started we would discuss earthworms and find out how much the farmers actually knew. Sadly , due to lack of access of knowledge, most farmers would go to great lengths to destroy any earthworms they came across, believing they damaged their crops. Worms were always a humourous topic, Farmers were always astonished to realise that they were so beneficial and could be ‘farmed’ very economically, to produce a super liquid fertilizer.
To begin with, a team of youth were selected to be the ‘technical’ group. This was normally about 6 people. They would then be taken through the steps of constructing the wormery or ‘worm hoteli’ using locally available materials, before being left to construct a second one by themselves. This way we were sure that we would leave the technology in the group. 
The group meanwhile would be learning how to fill the interior of the ‘worm hoteli’ making it hospitable for worms. It was crucial they learn of all the things that could go wrong, how to identify them and how to correct them. They also learnt how to tend the worms and how to extract the juice by flushing the entire system with water once a monnth. Worm juice when produced properly is one of the easiest and most nutritious bio feeds one can give ones crops, In the rural setting where incomes are low it is hugely appreciated.
The morning session of the training would be taken up making the wormery and teaching the theory, In the afternoon, the two would be put together. Duplication of this system within the group is quite easy, members can take worms from the demo site when they have constructed their own systems. The initial trend has been farmers taking juice form the demo site and using it for a time until they are convinced of its benefits before investing in setting up their own system.
Technorati : earthworms, worm juice, wormery
