Agrifose Report 23, 2020. "Vermi-Composting For
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AgriFoSe2030 Report 23, 2019 An AgriFoSe2030 Final Report from Theme 2 - Multifunctional landscapes for increased food security Vermi-composting for increased agricultural productivity, women empowerment and Today more than 800 million people around the environmental sanitation in world suffer from chronic hunger and about 2 billion from under-nutrition. northern Ethiopia This failure by humanity is challenged in UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2: “End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. Kassa Teka1, Eunce Githae2, Yemane Welday1, Efrem Gidey3 The AgriFoSe2030 program directly targets SDG 1 2 3 2 in low-income countries by translating state- Mekelle University, Ethiopia; Kenyatta University, Kenya; Wukro St. of-the-art science into clear, relevant insights Mary’s Institute, Tigray, Ethiopia that can be used to inform better practices and policies for smallholders. The AgriFoSe2030 program is implemented by a consortium of scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Lund University, Gothenburg University and Stockholm Environment Institute and is hosted by the AgriFoSe2030 platform SLU Global. Agriculture for Food Security 2030 The program is funded by the Swedish - Translating science into policy and practice International Development Agency (Sida). News, events and more information are available at www.slu.se/agrifose ISBN: 978-91-576-9706-6 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The project members would like to thank the AgriFoSe2030 theme 2, Multifunctional Landscape for Food Security Program for the financial support; Wukro St. Mary’s Institute and Wukro Agricultural Poly Technique College for the technical support; Mekelle University (College of Dryland Agriculture and Natural Resources) for the logistic support; Tigray National State Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development and all district offices as well as extension agents for facilitation of the pilot project activities; the Tigray National State Bureau of Science and Technology, and the Tigray Urban Greening and Beautification for being potential stakeholders for scaling – up the technology to urban areas of Tigray for organic solid waste management at household level. Front picture: Vermi-compost treated orange and maize. Photo: Kassa Teka. 2 Summary Ethiopian agriculture is characterized by high soil degradation, rain-fed and fragmented land holding, extremely low external inputs and high dependency on traditional farming techniques, which affects the productivity. Women headed households are the most vulnerable to these challenges due to factors such as persistent gender disparities in the labor market and the “double day burden” where they have to fulfil both domestic duties and make money outside the home. By supporting female-headed households through trainings on new organic farming technologies, these households can diversify their sources of livelihood and boost their resilience to climate change and variability. Organic farming systems using vermi-compost (composting with the use of worms) are thought to be the answer for the future food safety and farm security since it improves soil fertility and protect soils from degradation while also promoting plant growth and provides environmental sanitation. Vermi-culture can also enhance the lives of the poor by generating self-employment opportunities. This pilot project aimed at 1) Scaling up the vermi-composting technology to contribute to increased agricultural productivity; 2) training women headed households on the technology to empower them economically and socially; and 3) determining vermi-compost application rates for different soil and crop types under different agro- ecologies in the Tigray regional state, Ethiopia. The produced vermi-compost generated an income of around 107 to 286 US Dollars per household from increased crop productivity, and an additional income of 9 to 296 US Dollars per household from vermi- worms selling. Experimental studies on maize, bread wheat and apple also reported an increase in soil fertility as well as crop yield by vermi-compost addition compared to conventional compost and chemical fertilizer. The trained female household heads perceived the technology as beneficial due to improvements in soil fertility and crop productivity, reduced cost of purchasing chemical fertilizer, easy technology that can be managed by any family member and improved household sanitation through continuous waste removal as worm feed. The technique has proven beneficial, but to scale-up the project to the entire region, the knowledge about the technology by stakeholders needs to be enhanced to secure technical and financial support for up-scaling. Priority also needs to shift from chemical fertilizers to organic ones by extension agents, and the farm level research and demonstration on the technology need to be boosted. 3 Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................................................... 2 Summary .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Contents ................................................................................................................................................... 4 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 5 1.1. Background .............................................................................................................................. 5 1.2. Aims of the project ................................................................................................................... 6 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT AREA ...................................................................................... 6 3. PROJECT ACTIVITIES .................................................................................................................... 7 4. PROJECT RESULTS ....................................................................................................................... 7 4.1. Initial Vermi-Worms Culturing .................................................................................................. 8 4.2. Training of women headed households ................................................................................... 8 4.3. Vermi-worm culturing/composting and production ................................................................ 11 4.3.1. Vermi-worm culturing ........................................................................................................... 11 4.3.2. Vermi-compost production and income grained .................................................................. 11 4.3.2.1. Income from worm and compost sell ............................................................................... 11 4.3.2.2. Income from Gesho (Rhamus prenoids) Production ....................................................... 12 4.3.2.3. Effect on Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum), Maize (Zea mays) yield and disease tolerance 13 4.3.2.4. Effect on Orange quality .................................................................................................. 15 4.3.2.5. Effect on Teff (Eragrostis tef) yield .................................................................................. 15 4.3.3. Training on Soap making from Aloe Vera species (Barbados aleo) ................................... 16 4.4. Experimental site setup for vermi-compost application rate and their economic significance determination ...................................................................................................................................... 17 4.4.1. Effect on maize yield and soil physico-chemical properties ................................................ 17 4.4.2. Effect of Vermicompost on elected Soil Physico-chemical Properties, and bread wheat productivity ........................................................................................................................................... 20 4.4.3. Residual effect of vermi-compost on salad yield and selected soil properties .................... 23 4.4.4. Effect on apple fruit growth and soil properties ................................................................... 26 4.4.5. Effect of different feed types on the growth and reproductive performance of vermi-worm Eissenia fetida ...................................................................................................................................... 26 4.5. Women headed households’ perception of vermi-composting technology ........................... 27 4.6. Scale-up of the technology outside the project sites ............................................................. 28 5. BARRIERS TO SCALING UP ........................................................................................................ 31 6. CONCLUDING REMARKS AND WAY FORWARD ....................................................................... 32 6.1. Concluding remarks ............................................................................................................... 32 6.2. Way forward ........................................................................................................................... 33 7. REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 35 4 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1.