Faced with an encroaching city, old world farmers created

Use of earthworm species to biodegrade various substrates (industrial wastes, agricultural residues, etc.) for composting has proven to be successful after initial stabilization of vermi beds. This study presents optimization of vermi beds (soil + cowdung) for culturing of earthworms (Eisenia fetida, Eudrilus eugeniae, and Megascolex megascolex.).

In Dhala, farmers have been blending traditional and

With an aim to give fillip to the agricultural sector of the North East by promoting suitable entrepreneurs in agri-based ventures, North East Development and Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi), a premier financial institution of the region, on Thursday, has introduced a special scheme called Initiative for Development of Entrepreneurs in Agriculture (IDEA).

An innovative discipline of vermiculture biotechnology, the breeding and propagation of earthworms and the use of its castings has become an important tool of waste recycling the world over. Epigeics like Eisenia foetida and Eudrilus euginiae have been used in converting organic wastes (agro waste and domestic refuse) into vermicompost.

Courtesy earthworms, hair, weed easily converted to manure in 2003, the government ordered the closure of several hair processing units, which made wigs, in Karnataka because of pollution. Burning of hair resulted in toxic elements, which caused allergies. The problem with human hair is it takes hundreds of years to decompose (see

The Agriculture Department has directed its field staff to draw samples of vermin-compost and various types of bio-fertilisers to ensure that farmers were supplied products of the prescribed standard. Director of agriculture J.C. Rana said the fertiliser (control) order had been amended to include azotobacter, rhizobium, azospirillium and phosphate solublising bacteria under bio-fertilisers and town compost, vermi-compost and press mud under organic fertilisers.

The Directorate of Open and Distance Learning of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, is currently offering twenty one certificate courses for the benefit of farmers, entrepreneurs and self-help groups. Course details

A ray of hope is dawning in a few hundred villages of Washim and Akola districts, thanks to a project called the Integrated Sustainable Agricultural Programme (INSAP) being implemented by Yuva-Rural (Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action) with the help of Swiss-Aid India.

The study was conducted in purposely selected Jhadol Panchayat Samiti in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. Four villages of Panchayat Samiti were selected on the basis of maximum work done in vermiculture by various organizations. The respondents were then selected from a list of vermicompost unit holders of each selected village by following the proportionate sampling procedure.

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