Vermicompost Pit | Our Gift To Mother Earth

Vermicompost Pit | Our Gift To Mother Earth

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“The field with the big mango tree” is how one finds the way to Sanju Devi’s field in Lodipur village in Nagarnausa block in Bihar’s Nalanda district. The mango tree is also important because this is where she has constructed a vermicompost pit. Vermicompost is an organic manure for sustainable agriculture.

She says, “the mango tree is our gift from earth, the vermicompost is our gift to earth to heal it and make it fertile”.

Sanju Devi is a farmer, is a mother of four children—two girls and two boys, the eldest in class 10, the two daughters in classes 9 and 7, and the youngest in 3. She is very dedicated to the future of her children and their careers. When asked how she would manage her children’s studies she replies, “my girl will continue to get scholarship from the government as they have been getting till now”.

When she realised that she was unable to bear the cost of education despite the scholarships, she started vegetable cultivation. “The cost of vegetable cultivation is less and we get better price for it. Apart from our own land, we have started taking land on leases to do vegetable cultivation”.

The vermicompost pits have been constructed through Project Utthan—an Oxfam India-HDFC Bank project. Vermicompost is a form of organic fertiliser produced from earthworms; this is largely worm cast or worm waste. The earthworms feed on farm waste and cow dung and their waste creates an optimal soil enricher. Vermicasts resembles the shape of mini footballs which improve soil aeration and drainage, and also increase the water retention in the plant.

Sanju Devi and her husband Sarvesh Kumar manage the pit together. They initially put cow dung and earthworms, monitored it for 3 months, did regular checks for moisture. Now they have produced 150 kg of vermin compost. 150 Kg of vermicompost is sufficient for 0.75 acres. Using vermicompost is vey cost effective; it saves nearly Rs 1500 which may have been spent on buying chemical fertiliser.

Through Project Utthan, Oxfam India and HDFC Bank are working with 150 women farmers in 15 villages in three blocks of Nalanda District to produce vermicompost.

Project Utthan—an Oxfam India and HDFC Bank initiative—in Nalanda promotes and supports sustainable livelihood opportunities and improves access to essential services (particularly for women) across 15 villages. The project works with the most marginalised communities.

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