Worms the secret to healthy life, says Jhenidah farmer

Jhenidah farmer Md Nasim Uddin, 35, from Balidapara village in Kaliganj upazila is serious about human health and food safety. He wants to increase public awareness of the harmful consequences posed by the use of chemical fertilisers and poisons in growing crops. He seeks to provide a viable alternative: vermicompost.

“I will not eat and I don't want other people to eat poisonous vegetables,” he says. “Harmful chemicals used in pesticides and fertilisers can impact human health and cause illnesses.”

Last January, on 112 decimals of land in Babra village in Kaliganj, Nasim established a project to produce vermicompost fertiliser with earthworms, and traditional balainashak insecticide made from the sap of mahogany and neem trees.

“At the same time I started a cattle farm,” he says, “as a source of cow dung which is needed to produce the vermicompost. With the dung I was also able to make a biogas plant to cook fodder for the cattle. Nowadays I make an income from chemical-free grass, vegetables and paddy grown with vermicompost, as well as from the cattle. The balainashak insecticide I produce on the side.” 

Nasim underwent training with Japan-based NGO Hunger Free World where he learnt vermicompost skills and how to make balainashak. To begin with he raised 19 cattle which after three months earned a profit of Tk 2 lakh, money that helped to establish his interrelated agricultural businesses. Currently he has 27 cattle and is expecting good profits this year.

By July 2016 he had sold his first vermicompost, initially produced in 20 earthen pots. Now he has 60 pots and produces up to 15 maunds of fertiliser per month.

His efforts and in particular the way in which his enterprises interlink to reduce demand for external supplies have already attracted the attention of enthusiastic farmers from his and other nearby villages. “My aim is to make our local market free of chemical fertilisers and insecticides within a decade,” he says.

“Undoubtedly, it is a noble initiative,” says farmer Aktarul Islam from Babra village. “I plan to follow his example from this year.”

“Nasim's enterprise will encourage us to remove chemical fertilisers from our crops too,” agrees another farmer, Jahid Hossain from Balidapara.

 Hunger Free World's project coordinator, Shahinur Rahman told The Daily Star that across Jhenidah and especially in Kaliganj upazila thousands of farmers are now producing vermicompost and balainashak. “It's become a big movement,” he says, “Farmers are earning a good income from their crops grown with vermicompost. We are providing training to farmers as they need.”

Kaliganj upazila's agriculture officer Md Jahidul Islam, meanwhile, says that local farmers are nowadays well aware of the merits of vermicompost. The Department of Agriculture Extension also provides training to encourage its use, he says. “Vermicompost is very useful for the soil as it helps to nurture soil fertility.”