Organic fertilizers from worms

QACHA’S NEK – FOR two men from Qacha’s Nek, the earthworms they keep are as good as livestock.

Being born in poor families and raised by single parents who are fond of agriculture, nudged Bofihlile Thejane, 36, and Phoka Sekhotla, 33 from Ha-’Manteko to seek what some may see as a strange way of enhancing their agricultural produce.

For the duo, earthworms are their “livestock” which they use to turn rubbish heaps into good organic manure.

Their company, ST Organics, is one of its kind in the country.

“Being born in a poor family is not a good thing and when you are the eldest child, you help your siblings who come after you. You do so at a time when there are no jobs in the country,” Thejane said, explaining what prompted them to found ST Organics.

“All those things teach you that in life working hard is the way to go if you are to achieve your dreams,” he said.

ST Organics is a company that manufactures organic products.

Among the products is manure made from Eisenia andrei (earthworms).

The project started in January 2020 with no more than 20 earthworms.

By their activity in the soil, earthworms offer many benefits, including increased nutrient availability, better drainage and a more stable soil structure, all of which help improve farm productivity.

Worms feed on plant debris such as dead roots, leaves, grasses, manure and soil.

As they feed, they move and mix their waste with the soil in a moist, microbe-rich environment.

Earthworm tunnels bring in oxygen, drain water and create space for plant roots.

Earthworms crawl through soil consuming organic matter and in the process decompose it and produce worm castings which are rich in nutrients, humus and microorganisms.

In this process, earthworms also mix and aerate the soil. The male and female earthworm lay eggs all year round.

With these, one can make their own animal feed because they have more protein than fishbone.

One can also make soap, cosmetics and medicine from them.

Prior the establishment of the project, the two men reared 92 Rhode ice red hens which they struggled to feed.

“We then thought of simple methods that could make us raise chickens without buying food because animal feed is expensive,” Thejane said.

“Then we did some research and found that we could rear Eisenia Andrei or Black Soldier Fly (BSF), (some type of earthworms) to reduce the high cost of animal feed,” he said.

Black soldier fly larvae, Hermetia illucens, convert organic waste into high-quality nutrients for pet foods, fish and poultry feeds as well as residue fertilizer for soil amendment.

Thejane said they joined a Facebook group based in East Africa dubbed “Village Chicken Rearing” where they saw a topic talking about Eisenia Andrei rearing.

“They said these worms have a lot of protein that can help chickens lay eggs all year round and with their manure you can grow your own crops and also sell them to people who grow marijuana,” Thejane said.

“We tried it,” he said, adding: “Now we are seeing great success because we started with less than 20 worms in the last two years.”

“Now we have 40 bins, each bin holds between 1 000 and 10 000 worms,” he said.

“This year in August, we expect to harvest seven bags of 59kg of manure each and we will start filtering the coelomic fluid in Eisenia Andrei to make organic soap. This is the growth we have always wanted to see.”

Thejane said climate change is a major challenge for agriculture in Lesotho.

He said the country has not been able to produce a lot of quality products because of the artificial fertilizers that have been used recently and are dangerous to lives, causing diseases such as cancer.

He urged people not to burn disposed rotten food and cupboards to keep the worms plenty.

The biggest challenge, he said, is the structure as the company grows the worms inside shacks because they lay more when kept inside than outside.

He said they try to protect the worms from being eaten by rats, birds, ants and centipedes.

Their mission, he said, is to encourage Basotho to abandon chemical fertilizers and produce quality organic fertilizers.

“We want to produce quality fertilizers that meet international standards as well as cosmetics and medicines for the local and international markets,” he said.

“We expect that in the next three years we will have taught Basotho to produce their own quality fertilizer.”

Thejane said they hope to at least be able to produce eight tons organic fertilizer a week by October 2025.

“Our greatest desire is that by the year 2025, we would have been able to reduce the amount of burning in the dumping area of Qacha’s Nek in order to fight environmental pollution and reduce smoke by 80 percent because we will have plenty of Eisenia Andrei to eat that food and cardboards boxes,” said Thejane.

He said the importance of organic fertilizers is to make crops grow faster, increase the roots of the crop by 30 percent, prevent many diseases that affect crops during their growth.

He said organic fertilizers help the soil to receive and retain moisture for a long time, prepares clay soil, reduces the pH of the soil and increases the nutrients in the soil and can be used in marijuana cultivation, nurseries, flowering shops, golf courses and landscaping among others.

Thejane said this fertilizer can be made into a liquid to be poured on the plant and to prevent insects because manure with earthworm contains Chitinase, which is not harmful to people but can also be used as food supplement for animals.

“Our desire is that chemical fertilizers should not be used in Lesotho anymore.”

’Mapule Motsopa