Vermiculture (vermis from the Latin word of worm), or rather compost farming is a practice of transforming raw- organic residues such as kitchen vegetable waste into humus-like material through the activity of soil- dwellers or soil micro-organisms. Ms. Tebo Mokwena is a twenty-five year old Motswana woman who hails from Selibe- Phikwe identified a niche and decided to venture in compost farming using earthworms for ten years and still counting. Earthworms are soft-bodied terrestrial invertebrates that occur worldwide and dwell in soil and water where temperatures allow. They are usually segmented and possess a tube-like body. They feed on a wide variety of organic matter which consists of nematodes, bacteria, fungi and protozoa. Ms. Tebo grew up in a household that was never wasteful, that’s when she fell in love with composting. ‘From a young age I met compost worms in our household. My grandpa used to keep worms for fishing, and one day it sparked an interest in me as to why they are there and what functionality they serve. I studied them and realised this is an area of agriculture that is yet to be tapped into. Which also has a lot of potential and followed through with it’ says Tebo.
There are over species of earthworms globally and only seven of these species are suitable for use in worm farming. Tebo keeps Eisenia fetida, also known as manure worm or red worm, as well as Lumbricus rubellus known as African night crawler or red wiggler worm. These worms belong to the epigenic category, meaning that they are mostly red to pink in colour and are surface dwellers that thrive in fresh rotting organic waste. These two earthworm species reared by Tebo have exceptionally adaptability and tolerance range of food sources, temperature variation (10 to 30 °C) and moisture content of 60 to 90%. These species of earthworms are sexually classified as ‘hermaphrodite’ which means that an earthworm possesses both male and female sexual organs which enables them to reproduce very quickly. They tend to consume up to half of its body weight a day, hence making them exceptionally suitable for managing organic waste.
Tebo uses a rather simple technique in her vermiculture, which is she keeps her worms in worm bins that separates he food and worms from the compost. After earthworms reproduce, their fertilised eggs are held in a protective cocoon. The baby worm (hatchling) will emerge and burrow into the soil, where they grow into juvenile and mature worms
Tebo gave us a number of reasons on why we should go into earthworm farming and these are;
- increased soil moisture retention,
- improves soil aeration
- promote the availability of soil nutrients
- they stabilises soil pH
- part of the earthworm’s diet is to consume harmful soil-micro-organisms that are potential plan diseases, hence they suppress foliar and root plant diseases. As earthworm Suppress foliar diseases.
- they also reduce weed growth
Benefits of vermiculture to the farmer is that they reproduce fast, hence when kept in the right conditions that allow them to thrive, they are readily available they contribute towards high yields of our crops as they supply the soil with rich nutrient organic matter, there is an inevitable by-product called ‘worm tea’ which is a natural fertilizer for plants rich in beneficial microbes and nitrogen made from soaking worm manure in water. On the other hand, vermiculture can be used as an alternative supplementary protein feed for chickens and fish.
Vermiculture is an industry that has been existing but not yet thoroughly explored. It has a lot of potential because if taken seriously, it will contribute greatly into our poultry, fish and crop farms. Not all Batswana seem to grasp the concept behind vermiculture and compost farming, however, from time to time, Tebo conducts compost farming workshops and trainings to help farmers rear and understand the greater benefits of compost farming. One other reason she’s passionate about this is that composting is 100% organic and helps reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the atmosphere hence curbing the adverse effects of climate change. It would be beneficial to the agricultural industry
The challenges that Tebo face as a vermiculture and compost farmer in Botswana is that Botswana experiences high intense temperatures during warm months and these do not favour the growth and reproduction of earthworms. Measures she takes is to be extra cautious and give them maximum attention when rearing them. One other factor or hindrance is that not much of Batswana have knowledge that thy could actually practice vermiculture/ compost farming in Botswana hence there is a slow turn up of customers hence no enough turn over to increase or improve production.
Pests that affect vermiculture in Botswana are mostly ants, especially mmantopane. Otherwise no specific animal is a threat. Rather when feeding them, oil, salt, chemicals, bones, dairy products reduce earthworm’s productivity, that’s why it is important to feed them raw, kitchen waste vegetables.
Tebo’s advise to anyone who wants to venture into vermiculture/ compost farming is that it is a very lucrative business that has a potential of changing our perspective on farming by introducing worms to our farmland as a way to promote climate- smart, and good agricultural practices can immediately change the composition of our farm lands into rich, fertile, productive lands suitable for crop growth. Happy composting!
