Promotion of Low Cost Vermicompost Production for Livelihood Improvement in Morigaon District of Assam

Empowering women through developing skill in various income generating activities of agriculture and allied sector would play a significant role in uplifting the rural economy. An enterprise involved in vermicompost production with locally available material is now emerging as an income generating avenue for farm women. Vermicompost is produced by the earthworms on partially decomposed organic material. The compost is rich in essential plant nutrients, beneficial to soil microorganisms, plant growth promoting substances, vitamins and enzymes. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Morigaon conducted front line demonstration (FLD) on low cost vermicompost production involving ten numbers of farm women with an aim to wide scale adoption of the technology among others for upliftment of socio-economic standard of the rural people. In the FLD programme, the technology demonstrated was pit method of vermicompost preparation in a tank of size 2.5 m(L) X 0.91 m (B) X 0.91 m(D) using locally available materials such as bamboo and polythene sheet. Vermi wash was collected in an earthen pit of size 0.31 m (L) x 0.31 m (B) x 0.31 m (D) by connecting the pit with vermicomposting unit by a PVC pipe. The result of the demonstration programme was satisfactory and spread by the members of the NGO trained by KVK, Morigaon to fifteen operational villages under them leading to the formation of a Farmers’ Producer Company named Yangli.