1.2 Coordonnées des personnes-ressources et des institutions impliquées dans l'évaluation et la documentation de la Technologie

Nom du ou des institutions qui ont facilité la documentation/ l'évaluation de la Technologie (si pertinent)

ICIMOD International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) - Népal

1.3 Conditions relatives à l'utilisation par WOCAT des données documentées

Quand les données ont-elles été compilées (sur le terrain)?

01/03/2013

Le compilateur et la(les) personne(s) ressource(s) acceptent les conditions relatives à l'utilisation par WOCAT des données documentées:

Oui

2.1 Courte description de la Technologie

Définition de la Technologie:

Vermicomposting or worm composting is a simple technology for converting biodegradable waste into organic manure with the help of earthworms.

2.2 Description détaillée de la Technologie

Description:

Earthworms are valued by farmers because, in addition to aerating the soil, they digest organic matter and produce castings that are a valuable source of humus. Vermicomposting, or worm composting is a simple technology that takes advantage of this to convert biodegradable waste into organic manure with the help of earthworms (the red worm Eisenia foetida) with no pile turning, no smell, and fast production of compost. The earthworms are bred in a mix of cow dung, soil, and agricultural residues or predecomposed leaf-litter. The whole mass is converted into casts or vermicompost, which can be used as a fertilizer on all types of plants in vegetable beds, landscaping areas, or lawns.

Purpose of the Technology: Worms are so effective at processing organic waste that they can digest almost half their own weight in debris every day. Vermicomposting is a simple composting process that takes advantage of what earthworms do naturally, but confines the worms to bins making it easier for farmers to feed them and to harvest their nutrient-rich compost. Since all worms digest organic matter, in principle, any type of worm can be used; however, not all are equally well adapted to living in bins since some worms prefer to live deep in the soil while others are better adapted to living closer to the surface. The red worm (Eisenia foetida) is ideal for vermicomposting because its natural habitat is close to the surface and it is accustomed to a diet rich in organic matter, this makes it ideally suited to digesting kitchen scraps and to living in bins.

Establishment / maintenance activities and inputs: Vermicomposting can be carried out in different types of containers. There are only a few requirements for a good worm pit, the most important being good ventilation; the pit needs to have more surface area than depth (wide and shallow) and it needs to have relatively low sides. The base of the worm pit is prepared with a layer of sand then alternating layers of shredded dry cow dung and degradable dry biomass and soil are added. Under ideal conditions, 1,000 earthworms can covert 45 kg of wet biomass per week into about 25 kg of vermicompost.

Natural / human environment: Worm castings contain five times more nitrogen, seven times more phosphorous, and eleven times more potassium than ordinary soil, the main minerals needed for plant growth. The vermicompost is so rich in nutrients that it should be mixed 1:4 with soil for plants to be grown in pots and containers. Vermicompost should not be allowed to dry out before using.

Note: This type of vermicomposting is sometimes referred to as 'Pusa' vermicomposting because it was popularized in South Asia by the Rajendra Agricultural University located in Pusa, Bihar, India.

2.3 Photos de la Technologie

2.5 Pays/ région/ lieux où la Technologie a été appliquée et qui sont couverts par cette évaluation

2.7 Introduction de la Technologie

Spécifiez comment la Technologie a été introduite: :

• au cours d'expérimentations / de recherches
• par le biais de projets/ d'interventions extérieures

3.1 Principal(aux) objectif(s) de la Technologie

• Improve fertilizer

3.2 Type(s) actuel(s) d'utilisation des terres, là où la Technologie est appliquée

Commentaires:

Major land use problems (compiler’s opinion): Crop productivity is limited by poor soil fertility, intense cropping, and a scarcity of irrigation water. Farmers notice a marked decrease in the health of their crops and degraded soil conditions when chemical fertilizers are overused. Vermicomposting is a low input response to this problem.

Forest products and services: fuelwood

Other forest products and services: fodder

3.4 Groupe de GDT auquel appartient la Technologie

• gestion intégrée de la fertilité des sols
• gestion des déchets/ gestion des eaux usées

3.5 Diffusion de la Technologie

Spécifiez la diffusion de la Technologie:

• appliquée en des points spécifiques ou concentrée sur une petite surface

3.6 Mesures de GDT constituant la Technologie

3.7 Principaux types de dégradation des terres traités par la Technologie

Commentaires:

Main causes of degradation: soil management

3.8 Prévention, réduction de la dégradation ou réhabilitation des terres dégradées

Spécifiez l'objectif de la Technologie au regard de la dégradation des terres:

• prévenir la dégradation des terres

4.1 Dessin technique de la Technologie

4.2 Spécification/ explications techniques du dessin technique

Establishing a vermicompost pit
Diagram showing the layers needed to set up a vermicompost pit. Note that the middle layer is the thickest; the worms start here and eat both upwards and downwards. It is best to house the pit under a thatched or plastic roof in order to shield it from excessive sunshine and rain.

Technical knowledge required for field staff / advisors: moderate

Technical knowledge required for land users: moderate

Main technical functions: increase in nutrient availability (supply, recycling,…), Improve Soil Fertility

Secondary technical functions: improvement of topsoil structure (compaction), Stabilizes that soil

4.3 Informations générales sur le calcul des intrants et des coûts

Spécifiez la manière dont les coûts et les intrants ont été calculés:

• par entité de la Technologie

Indiquez la monnaie utilisée pour le calcul des coûts:

• dollars US

4.4 Activités de mise en place/ d'établissement

	Activité	Type de mesures	Calendrier
1.	A low cost pit can be constructed with bricks on a moist or shaded site
2.	If bricks are not available, stones can be used for the pit construction;
3.	alternatively, a wooden or bamboo box or a plastic tray can also be used.
4.	Vermicompost pits are best started during the summer months.
5.	A thatched roof was built over the pit to help retain moisture in the heap
6.	at a level of approximately 40–50%, as well as to maintain an optimal temperature of about 20–30oC.
7.	Sand, soil, cow dung, and leaf litter are piled up as shown in the diagram.
8.	Material Used are Bricks and cement, dry cow dung, plastic sheet/bamboo, earthworm (around 2000)

4.5 Coûts et intrants nécessaires à la mise en place

	Spécifiez les intrants	Unité	Quantité	Coûts par unité	Coût total par intrant	% des coût supporté par les exploitants des terres
Main d'œuvre	Construction of pit	persons/day/unit	10,0	5,0	50,0
Matériaux de construction	Brick and cement	unit	1,0	70,0	70,0
Matériaux de construction	Dry cow dung	unit	1,0	10,0	10,0
Matériaux de construction	Plastic sheet/bamboo	unit	1,0	70,0	70,0
Matériaux de construction	Earthworm (2000)	unit	1,0	60,0	60,0
Coût total de mise en place de la Technologie					260,0

Commentaires:

Duration of establishment phase: 3 month(s)

4.6 Activités d'entretien/ récurrentes

	Activité	Type de mesures	Calendrier/ fréquence
1.	Water regularly and collect, harvest vermicompost	Agronomique
2.	The pit is watered regularly. After five to six weeks, the top layer is removed and piled in one corner of the pit. After a few days, the worms will have borrowed down to the bottom of this pile and the compost can be harvested. The compost prepared in the pit should be harvested within 6 months and the pit refurbished as for the first set as discussed above.	Agronomique

4.7 Coûts et intrants nécessaires aux activités d'entretien/ récurrentes (par an)

	Spécifiez les intrants	Unité	Quantité	Coûts par unité	Coût total par intrant	% des coût supporté par les exploitants des terres
Main d'œuvre	Watering pit	persons/day/unit	5,0	5,0	25,0
Matériaux de construction	Dry cow dung	unit	1,0	5,0	5,0
Matériaux de construction	Water pipe	unit	1,0	10,0	10,0
Coût total d'entretien de la Technologie					40,0

4.8 Facteurs les plus importants affectant les coûts

Décrivez les facteurs les plus importants affectant les coûts :

All costs and amounts are rough estimates by the technicians and authors. This was a demonstration project conducted by ICIMOD.

5.1 Climat

5.2 Topographie

5.3 Sols

Si disponible, joignez une description complète du sol ou précisez les informations disponibles, par ex., type de sol, pH/ acidité du sol, capacité d'échange cationique, azote, salinité, etc.

Soil fertility is medium

Soil drainage / infiltration is medium

Soil water storage capacity is medium

5.4 Disponibilité et qualité de l'eau

Commentaires et précisions supplémentaires sur la qualité et la quantité d'eau:

Water quality (untreated): Also for agricultural use (irrigation)

5.5 Biodiversité

Commentaires et précisions supplémentaires sur la biodiversité:

695 species of flora and 230 species of fauna have been documented within the Park's 30 ha area

5.6 Caractéristiques des exploitants des terres appliquant la Technologie

Indiquez toute autre caractéristique pertinente des exploitants des terres:

Population density: < 10 persons/km2

5.7 Superficie moyenne des terres détenues ou louées par les exploitants appliquant la Technologie

5.8 Propriété foncière, droits d’utilisation des terres et de l'eau

• Governement

• ICIMOD

• ICIMOD

5.9 Accès aux services et aux infrastructures

6.1 Impacts sur site que la Technologie a montrés

Impacts socio-économiques

Revenus et coûts

Autres impacts socio-économiques

Impacts socioculturels

Impacts écologiques

Autres impacts écologiques

6.2 Impacts hors site que la Technologie a montrés

6.3 Exposition et sensibilité de la Technologie aux changements progressifs et aux évènements extrêmes/catastrophes liés au climat (telles que perçues par les exploitants des terres)

Autres conséquences liées au climat

Autres conséquences liées au climat

	Comment la Technologie fait-elle face à cela?
active in warm climate	bien

6.4 Analyse coûts-bénéfices

Quels sont les bénéfices comparativement aux coûts de mise en place (du point de vue des exploitants des terres)?

Quels sont les bénéfices comparativement aux coûts d'entretien récurrents (du point de vue des exploitants des terres)?

6.5 Adoption de la Technologie

Commentaires:

There is a strong trend towards spontaneous adoption of the Technology

Comments on adoption trend: Vermicomposting training was provided to farmers in Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Godavari, and Bishankhunarayan VDCs by ICIMOD staff in collaboration with local NGOs. More than 60% of the farmers who received training adopted vermicomposting on their own farms and they have also started selling worms to other farmers. The technology has been adopted by others who have visited the ICIMOD Knowledge Park at Godavari but most of these are just interested in introducing it on a small scale, such as, to produce vermicompost from kitchen waste for household use in their own gardens. The participants were also taught how to collect local earthworms to use for composting.

Drivers of adaptation of the technology
• A simple technology and easy to implement
• Local earthworms can be used.
• Not expensive; farmers can construct pits or uses wooden boxes or plastic trays.
• Produces high quality compost with a high concentration of nutrients
• Helps to reduce pests in the soil
• Can be scaled up to produce compost commercially

6.7 Points forts/ avantages/ possibilités de la Technologie

Points forts/ avantages/ possibilités du point de vue du compilateur ou d'une autre personne ressource clé
The use of vermicompost reduces the need for chemical fertilizers and reduces dependence on outside sources. How can they be sustained / enhanced? Promote the technology by disseminating it to a large number of farmers on both small and big farms
Vermicomposting does not require keeping livestock. How can they be sustained / enhanced? It is considered to be a low-cost alternative that uses local earthworms and materials to produce compost.
On-farm composting saves the transportation cost needed to deliver compost to the farm.

6.8 Faiblesses/ inconvénients/ risques de la Technologie et moyens de les surmonter

Faiblesses/ inconvénients/ risques du point de vue du compilateur ou d'une autre personne ressource clé	Comment peuvent-ils être surmontés?
Purchasing earthworms from outside may be expensive for farmers.	Farmers can be encouraged to harvest local earthworms for composting.
Making compost from earthworms is not very popular in rural areas.	Create greater awareness on how earthworms can be used to compost leaf-litter and other kitchen waste.

7.3 Liens vers les informations pertinentes disponibles en ligne

Titre/ description:

Vermicomposting: Journey to forever organic garden (no date)

URL:

http://journeytoforever.org/compost_worm.html