Worm breeding inspires crisis-hit economy

By Mehru Jaffer

CIPANAS, West Java (JP): Do not laugh if you hear about a man who earns his living raising worms. Vermiculture, the science of breeding earthworms, is wriggling its way into more hearts than one, especially after the onset of the economic crisis.

Ferry, who is 31 years old and a father of three, recalls spending two terrible years without a job until he accidentally wandered into the earthworm ecology farms in Cipanas, West Java.

From a family of traditional rice farmers in Central Java, Ferry left his village to be a roving salesman for a factory which manufactured furniture parts. He was doing fine until the crisis caused the factory to go bankrupt, leaving him jobless.

A year ago he ventured into West Java where he heard of Biomiks Worm Farming, a place that is still desperately looking for more farmhands. Today Ferry is a member of Biomiks Cooperative Society and earns a fixed income of Rp 400,000 per month plus about Rp 350,000 in profit sharing in an area where the minimum wage for farmers is between Rp 150,000 and Rp 200,000 per month. With his future and income secure, he is able to enjoy the luxury of a third child.

Prasetyo Seno, the president of Biomiks, is forever on the lookout for other unemployed people like Ferry who are looking for alternative ways to earn a livelihood. An architect and real estate developer, Seno became interested in vermiculture when he planned environmentally friendly housing for residents in Bandung.

In the housing complex he built he wanted to provide residents with a facility for disposing organic waste with a minimum impact on the environment.

Soon he was introduced to vermiculture and vermicomposting, the process of feeding household waste to worms. That is when he realized how desperate farmers in this country are for fertilizer. He was inspired by the Cubans, who used fertilizer made from worm powder in the absence of petrochemical fertilizers from former communist allies and after the U.S. slapped economic sanctions on the country.

"Indonesians are in a similar situation at the moment. Out of 56 factories producing fertilizer before the crisis, 50 have closed down. The six factories still in operation are unable to sell their products as the cost is too high for the local farmer," explained Seno, who added that the country needs at least 16 million tons of fertilizer each month. However, only 10 percent is available, and even that is not affordable.

What he would like to see is entrepreneurs here making their own fertilizer, which will resolve multiple problems like unemployment and lifting the agro-industry out of its current state of depression. At Biomiks, the farmers produce five tons of fertilizer, but even that is not enough to meet demands. One factory requires 2,500 tons each month.

Organic compost made from worm powder is considered valuable for farms and cattle feed. It is said to increase the yield of vegetables and to sweeten fruit. A quick glance around reveals that the worm farming industry is going through a boom phase all over the world. The main reason for that is an increase in awareness about environmental waste management and the minimization which worms are capable of resolving as they eat everything and breed copiously in a very basic habitat. In the U.S., Mary Appelhof, author of Worms Eat My Garbage, a book about home vermicomposting, recently released a revised edition of her book, which has sold over 100,000 copies.

In a recent interview, Appelhof said, "The interest now is just growing -- more and more people are doing it. It's definitely changed not only my life, but now there are large- scale projects ... At the time I started, I didn't believe there was an industry. I believe there is a developing industry now ..."

The Australian Worm Growers Association boasts a membership of over 600 individuals. In the Indian city of Pune, grape yields increased to 15 tons per acre after the use of vermicompost. This was higher than yields under conventional fertilization.

Not only does a worm breeding business cost very little to setup, but it can be established on a small area of land and run on a part-time basis. In Jakarta alone, about 100 worm farms already dot the city with four to five people manning each one.

Biokos is one of the bigger farms in West Java where more than 20 farmers, along with their families, have managed to stave off starvation by breeding earthworms.

"One way of converting land in an urban area that was not occupied after the real estate business went bust, and to fight unemployment, is to start vermiculture activities," said Bambang Wasono Basoeki Rachmat, a member of the Vermi Cooperative Society.

He said that about 52,000 hectares of land in the Jabotabek (Greater Jakarta) area alone has become wasteland. He wants the cooperative society to act as a social safety net for all those millions who lost their jobs in recent months and do not know where their next meal will come from.

For this same reason, Bambang and Seno visit factories that are about to close down and talk about the benefits of earthworm farming to employees who will soon be jobless.

The two entrepreneurs have also sent out about 1,000 container bins to schools in Lampung, South Sumatra. The bins are an extremely efficient flow-through system where worms are fed all the waste from the institution, leaving behind tons of compost with minimal investment or supervision.

The idea then is to collect and hand over industrial, agricultural and even personal waste to the vermifarmer in return for an environment that promises to become healthy again.