Md Rezaul, a young farmer in the Dapdapia area of Nalchhity upazila, Jhalakathi, is now successful and self-reliant from producing vermicompost (earthworm compost). The young entrepreneur turned to vermicompost after training through the upazila agriculture office.

Md Rezaul said: "With the help of the Nalchhity agriculture office, I started producing vermicompost in 2020 with a demonstration under the SACP project. My first sale then was Tk 600, and I have not looked back since. Now I sell the compost at Tk 500-600 a maund and earthworms at Tk 800-1,000 a kg. Using this compost in my own farming, I also get bigger harvests. That is how I have become self-reliant."

Describing the process, he said: "Cow dung is collected from the village and left in one place for 20-25 days, then put into the tanks and troughs. Then the earthworms are released. The worms eat more of this dung, so more compost is produced."

Upazila agriculture officer Sanjid Ara Shaon said: "Farmer Rezaul is steadily increasing the number of his troughs. He has about 20, where the dung of about fifty troughs can be kept. He also supplies earthworms."

She said: "Following his example, many in the village now produce and use this compost. We have named the village 'Vermi Village'. The work will continue. The agriculture office is buying compost from such entrepreneurs."

Md Zahidul Islam, the block's sub-assistant agriculture officer, said: "To encourage production and use of this compost, earthworm compost is bought from producers and distributed free to farmers at various demonstrations."

He said: "Following Rezaul, about 30 families, including Tulu Begum, Jamal, Raihan, Rashid Rari, Murad Hossain and Kalam, now produce model vermicompost (earthworm compost) and use it on their own land. Fertiliser shops and the agriculture office also buy the compost from farmers."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.