Damascus-Sana
With the remarkable trend of small and medium enterprises, especially agricultural ones, the earthworm breeding project, which many people have sought to work with recently, appears as it is an agricultural project of important economic feasibility, as the proportion of its profits is estimated at 300% in relation to the capital compared to some projects similar to it at cost to Besides his role in ensuring clean and safe cultivation according to the opinion of specialists.
The first goal of the earthworm breeding project is to obtain compost by converting the organic waste into high-quality fertilizer to ensure the production of a safe plant free of chemicals, where the worms can be raised for personal use, so they are raised on household waste to produce small amounts of compost used in some crops Household or reared with the intention of commercial use in large quantities to sell compost to farmers.
The researcher and agricultural expert, Dr. Eng. Bassam Al-Sayed, said in a statement to SANA that raising earthworms to obtain organic fertilizer known as Fermi Compost is one of the important agricultural projects at the family level and it will be one of the successful projects in the long term if it is adopted in a scientifically correct manner, especially as the world is heading to agriculture Clean, based on organic fertilizers and maintain human health.
According to the researcher the master, the vermic compost fertilizer is considered one of the most important organic fertilizers that help to nourish the plants and the soil, as the worms extract the useful materials from the organic waste produced from homes, farms or restaurants and convert them into organic fertilizer, i.e. these materials are recycled and the useful extract from them is thus eliminating part of Waste problems.
El-Sayed considered that the value of earthworm compost fertilizer at the biological level is concentrated in its richness with the necessary nutrients, in addition to the fact that the proportion of calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorous and nitrogen elements in it is higher than traditional compost and thus provides a beneficial biological activity in the soil.
Compost fertilizer has the ability to improve the level of plant growth by improving the properties of the soil as well as its ability to combat fungal diseases. On grapes.
Compost fertilizer also helps to resist insects, because it contains the enzyme chitinase, which works to break down and break down the chitin in the walls of insects' cells and thus cause their death, and it is successful in resisting whiteflies, aphids, beetles and spiders.
According to El-Sayed, the weight of 1000 worms is about 2500 grams, as the worm lives on the surface of the soil within a depth of 15 to 20 cm, and it does not like light, and the temperature that it prefers is between 18 and 25 degrees Celsius because the decrease or increase in temperature slows down its work and the worm raising can be invested in ponds. Inside the house, hotels or tourist establishments, streets, parks, salt water treatment plants and waste recycling plants, pointing out that the earthworm converts the equivalent of half its daily weight into compost.
The importance of the earthworm breeding project in the production of vermic compost comes as it eliminates the use of chemical fertilizers in reclaimed and poor lands, taking into account the soil analysis to find out the missing elements as it can be used as a spray on the leaves and has a cumulative effect that increases year after year as it helps in the transition to agriculture Clean organic and thus great cost savings and reduces the use of irrigation water by about 30 percent because it retains a large amount of water for long periods due to the presence of humic acid and folic acid in it.
Regarding the rate of profit resulting from the earthworm breeding project, Al-Sayed explained that this project has a high financial return and the profit rate in it reaches three times the capital, and it is an important project for new agricultural graduates because its cost is low and has a good economic return, as in addition to the material fertilizer income can benefit from the sale of worms For fishermen.
As for the basic requirements of the project, earthworms must be secured, a storehouse or a room in which ponds for raising worms are established, in addition to providing plant and animal wastes, and providing a machine dedicated to sorting cocoons from worms, and desert conditioners whose number will be according to the area of the store according to the master.
On the possibility of implementing large farms concerned with raising earthworms, the researcher said that the project can be implemented in different places in Syria and does not need a large cost, expressing his hope that this project will be adopted by the municipalities, waste plants and salt water treatment plants, especially as it does not need a special building where it is possible. Deworming in any warehouse, provided that the breeders have the expertise.
