Cooperative worms its way into profit

Cooperative worms its way into profit

By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:51:00 05/17/2008

SAN MIGUEL, Bohol -- They’re creepy, crawly creatures, but for members of the San Miguel Multipurpose Cooperative, the African Nightcrawlers are nothing short of spectacular.

This is because the voracious earthworms are leading them slowly but surely out of poverty by turning organic waste into valuable, nutrient-rich natural fertilizer.

The African Nightcrawlers are tiny, yet they are mean, fertilizer-producing machines. Weighing just a gram each, they can eat the equivalent of their weight in organic material every day.

Such an appetite means that these hardy worms can quickly transform waste, such as chicken and cow manure, leaves, kitchen leftovers, rice straw, wood shavings, into compost, providing cooperative members with an additional source of income.

SMMPC manager Benjamin Mejorada said in an interview here that the cooperative ventured into vermicomposting -- the process of producing organic fertilizer from the waste of earthworms -- in October last year after some cooperative members learned the technology at the Center for Rural Technology Development of the Philippine Business for Social Progress in Calauan, Laguna.

Convinced of the bright prospects of vermicomposting, the cooperative invested about P50,000 in the venture, which went to the construction of a shed at the back of the training center.

The shed houses several vermicomposting beds or pits.

Each bed, measuring 1 x 5 x 0.3 meters, can contain about 1,500 kilos of “substrate,” composed of worms and organic material, 45 percent of which turn into compost.

It was estimated that each bed can produce 675 kilos of compost, which means revenue of at least P4,725 a bed for the cooperative, as the compost is sold for P7 a kilo.

The project actually cost a total of P170,000, but a grant from TeaM Energy Foundation covered the purchase of the initial 125 kilos of worms, each worth P800, and the training of cooperative members at the CRTD.

Former SMMPC chair Norberto Buñao said the cooperative started stocking its vermicomposting beds in December last year, and the first batch of organic fertilizer was sold three months later.

Buñao said neighboring farmers and the cooperative members themselves bought the organic fertilizer at P350 per 50-kilo sack to fortify their land.

More farmers are turning to organic fertilizer, he said, as chemical fertilizers have become too expensive, selling for over P1,500 a bag due mainly to the surge in the prices of crude from which chemical fertilizers are derived.

It takes about five to seven bags of chemical fertilizers to provide a hectare of riceland with the needed nitrogen and potassium.

To cut costs, an increasing number of rice farmers in the province have started mixing organic with chemical fertilizers.

“Now, we cannot keep up with the demand,” Buñao said in Filipino. “Our compost is sold even before we produce them, which is why we are thinking of expanding our vermicomposting operation.”

The cooperative, which has an asset base of P5 million, expects to recover its initial investment in less than a year as the venture is expected to gross as much as P476,500 a year. Thus it is raring to invest some more of the group’s money in the production of organic fertilizer.

The 24-year-old cooperative with some 600 members has high hopes for its vermicomposting business as the local government has declared its intention to make Bohol, the country’s 10th largest island, the center of organic agriculture in the Philippines.

Such an ambitious target will mean a surge in demand for organic fertilizer, and the SMMPC is working to be a primary source by putting more worms to work.

Aside from earning from the compost, it also plans to sell the earthworms themselves for those interested in going into vermicomposting. It helps that the African Nightcrawlers reproduce quickly.

The farmers here have no problem looking for the worms’ food as the municipality is rich in raw materials that would have otherwise been thrown away.

These include rice straw, coconut saw dust, coco coir, madre de cacao leaves and household wastes such as rotten vegetables.

“With vermicomposting, we not only earn extra income, we also contribute to the management of solid waste, protection of the environment and promotion of organic agriculture,” added Buñao.

He admits, however, that the initial cost of going into fully organic agriculture is significant as the farmer will need some 37 sacks of organic fertilizer to at least match the yield of a hectare of rice land using chemical fertilizers.

But the investment is worth it since the volume of organic fertilizer will go down by 20 percent a year until the farmer no longer needs to fertilize the land since the nutrient content has been restored.

Leo Hilado, director of operations of PBSP, said that with the province’s thrust toward organic agriculture, the private sector-led nongovernment organization is encouraging more cooperatives in the province to invest in vermicomposting.

SMMPC is one of three partner cooperatives identified for commercial production of vermicompost. The other two cooperatives are in Candelaria and Trinidad.

A combined 280 kilos of African Nightcrawlers were distributed by PBSP and TeaM Energy Foundation to these groups and six other community-based organizations to jumpstart the vermicompost industry in the province.

Hilado said that vermicomposting is now a major part of PBSP’s area resource management program for Bohol. The same goes for Samar and Cebu.

The Bohol ARM is aimed at assisting 10,283 poor households in 40 communities in eight municipalities to increase their productivity and income. It is envisioned that by the end of next year, the farmers’ groups would be able to develop and manage their own organizations and projects.

Hilado said commercial production of vermicompost was just starting in Bohol, but he expressed confidence that more groups would eventually find economic salvation in the tiny worms.