From Here & There-Vermicomposting for soil health

Shivananda G Ramagiri, an organic farmer in Mugali village of Haveri district, has maintained the fertility of his farmland by following simple principles. He mixes 100 kg of farm yard manure or vermicompost with trichoderma, mychorihza and pseudomonas (one kg each). He covers the mixture with paddy or finger millet straw, and sprays around 10 litres of water on it every day, for three days. This compost mixture is used as a base dose while sowing seeds or planting saplings.

He does vermicomposting on a large scale. In fact, the vermicomposting unit is the major source of manure for his 30 acres farm. The unit has around 18 pits of 10 X 3 X 2.5 feet size each. Agriculture bio-waste and biogas slurry are the major inputs for vermicomposting . The unit produces about 40-45 tonnes of vermicompost annually. Legumes also help him maintain the soil health.

He practices mixed cropping and does crop rotation to maintain the fertility of the soil. He grows ground nut or soybean in the kharif season, and sorghum in the rabi season. In another patch of land, he cultivates a local cotton variety and chilli in kharif while he grows cowpea in the rabi season. Rotation of monocot and dicot crops help him maintain a balance in the productivity of the farm. “Crop rotation, mixed cropping and farm-based organic manure are keys to my success in farming. It’s time farmers look at local, sustainable solutions than depending on outside input,” says Shivananda.