Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
Crops Turning worm castings into cash: self-taught farmer’s success
Vermicast (worm castings or manure) is one of the richest natural fertilisers available. It contains the nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, amongst others, and is highly beneficial to soil and plant life. Vermicast also improves soil structure, which helps retain moisture in the soil.
So says Thato Lekonyane, a self-taught worm farmer who runs Daddy’s Worm Farm, based at Kwalata Adventure Camp in Hammanskraal. The farm is operated as a recycling programme for food waste, and Lekonyane also hosts groups of schoolchildren to teach them about the importance of recycling in the food value chain.
an early interest in farming
Lekonyane grew up in Nokaneng village in Nkangala District Municipality, Mpumalanga, where he lived with his grandparents, Moses and Mary Ntlhoro, until he matriculated in 2008. His grandfather was a pig and cattle farmer and sparked Lekonyane’s interest in agriculture.
In 2009, Lekonyane moved to Kanana in Hammanskraal, where he currently lives with his parents, to do an electrical engineering course. Financial problems, however, forced him to give up his studies and look for employment.
In his search for work, he began considering different farming ventures. While researching poultry farming, he stumbled across an article on crops that mentioned earthworm farming.
“The farmer in the article explained how to breed worms and how he used them to create his own fertiliser,” he recalls.
Lekonyane started researching vermiculture and composting, discovered its role in the green economy, and learnt the basics of how to establish a worm farm.
‘’I started my worm farm in early 2017, hoping this would serve as a stepping stone towards a career in agriculture, as I lacked the resources to pursue more popular forms of farming. I just took a leap of faith.”
‘ the migration harvest method enables us to collect compost every week’
how it works
In earthworm farming, the worms are fed litchen waste and other organic matter. Their vermicast is then collected for use as a nutrient-rich compost for crops. The worms are housed in containers or improvised structures; Lekonyane has set up four plastic bins.
Like most worm farmers, he uses red wiggler worms ( Eisenia fetida), as they thrive in compost.
‘’Before creating a habitat for the worms, I’d carried out some research, and this confirmed that worms require nitrogen and carbon in their diet,” he says. “The kitchen waste that I use provides these, as well as the other nutrients they require.”
Eggshells provide calcium as well as helping to neutralise the acids created by the fruit and vegetable waste.
“A diverse diet increases the quality of compost, as it adds a variety of nutrients,” says Lekonyane, adding that all ingredients need to be crushed before being added to the bins.
He minimises the use of citrus fruit, which is highly acidic, and potatoes, which contain the toxin solanine.
Trial and error
According to Lekonyane, worms favour a temperature of between 15˚C and 30˚C. Their habitat should be consistently dark and moist, so that its contents attract mould, which assists the worms in breaking down the waste.
Because the worms require oxygen, the lid of the bin must have breathing holes. Holes should also be drilled at the bottom of the bin to enable excess moisture to drain out, and the bins placed on a raised platform.
Lekonyane explains that as the worms reproduce rapidly, he has to ensure that the bins do not become overpopulated.
It took about 11 months of trial and error before he harvested his first compost.
“Early in 2019, I started looking for a market in my neighbourhood, as there are many people here with gardens. I couldn’t go further than my immediate neighbourhood to distribute samples as I had no transport,” he says.
He gave out approximately 15 samples of vermicast, but only one person ended up buying some compost.
harvesting
To harvest the vermicast, Lekonyane initally emptied the fully processed contents of the bins in direct sunlight and created a number of pyramidshaped compost heaps.
“Because worms are sensitive to light, they crawled to the bottom of the heap, and we scooped
the individual beans remain intact in the sauce and have a firm mouthfeel.
Resistance
Farmers are particularly attracted to the variety for its yield and agronomic attributes.
PAN 123 contains a rust-resistant gene-block that has shown good resistance to rust strains across the world. Canning beans generally have a far longer commercial life than dry grain types because of the time and effort required to optimise canning factory output. For this reason, broad resistance is an important consideration for cultivar longevity.
Selecting for high rust resistance has also resulted in better grain size stability; this is an important advantage, as variability in grain size causes problems in the canning process, the most serious of which is hard-seededness associated with the smallergrained fraction of the crop.
Rust-susceptible varieties frequently run out of applied fungicide protection at the end of the season, as farmers cannot respray too close to maturity, and late infection can lead to variation in grain size, as well as reduced yield. This is not the only cause of grain size variation, but it is one that can be controlled by variety choice.
Taste it
Whether you’re a farmer or a consumer, take a good look at the integrity of baked beans next time you eat them, and appreciate their texture and the consistency of the sauce.
If the beans are locally produced, there is a very high likelihood they are PAN 123.
• Pannar Seed is a proud and longstanding partner of farmers across Africa and has been a Corteva Agriscience seed brand since 2013. • Phone Dr Antony Jarvie on 082 571 6380, or email him at antony.jarvie@corteva.com.