00:00The sight of ringling worms might be unpleasant to some, but Omid Tubushura thinks it's beautiful.
00:09She is a farmer in the village of Aruma in Ethiopia's Idama region.
00:14The worms she keeps are an asset to her and their demands are modest. She feeds them food,
00:20scraps, leaves and organic waste, which they in turn transform into vermicompost.
00:27This worm poop that Omid Tubushura harvests from her unusual pets
00:30is an excellent and environmentally friendly fertilizer which she uses on her own crops.
00:44I used vermicompost for this maize field. Even though there is
00:48not a lot of rain at the moment, it is growing well.
00:51If I had used chemical fertilizer, I would have needed to spend up to 25,000 pir,
00:57which would be more than 400 euro. That's a lot of money. But by making and using the
01:05compost from my worms, I can make a profit and provide enough food for my family.
01:15And she is not the only worm keeper in the village.
01:21When the rainy season starts, I use my own organic fertilizer. In fact, I don't think
01:27that I will need any phosphate or urea fertilizer from agricultural office at all this year.
01:38The vermicompost project in Aruma started in 2016 with just four participants including
01:45Asefa Amebo and Omid Tubushura. Now, the local agricultural office has trained over a hundred
01:51farmers to produce vermicompost. But it took a long time for people to accept the worm keepers
01:57and realize the value of these creepy crawlies.
02:04Some people would stay away from me just because I keep worms on my compound.
02:10They saw me touching the worms with my hands and so some of them even told my husband
02:15not to eat my food anymore. But my husband supported me the whole time.
02:24And gradually people started to realize the benefit of these creatures. Around 60 farmers
02:30have since asked me for worms pound and I have supplied them all.
02:39And the worm word keeps spreading. An agricultural officer from the
02:48neighboring Malga district has now come to Aruma to learn more about the ecological project.
03:00We are very keen to extend this initiative to our village too
03:04as it is very cheap and simple solution. The farmers are saying they want to make
03:08their own compost instead of having to buy chemical fertilizer.
03:18The worms and their valuable product are gaining more and more funds in the region.
03:23Meanwhile, Asefa Amebo and other local worm pioneers
03:26are earning a steady income from selling their organic fertilizer and worms pound.
03:31A kilogram of spawn costs the equivalent of 8 euros while 100 kilograms of vermicompost
03:39is 25 euros. The farmers are benefiting from the training they've received and are now less
03:44dependent on chemical fertilizers which can be very expensive and are harmful to the environment.
03:50Soil pollution is also protected by using vermicompost fertilizer. That means any polluting
04:02residue is easily managed by decomposing. So our environment is free from any polluting.
04:10Due to its success at the local level, the project will now be extended to the entire
04:15region. So the next time you are tempted to recoil from these little creatures,
04:21don't think of them as vermin. Think of vermicompost.
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