VERMI-COMPOSTING  PLANTS 

TIDE recommends different types of composting techniques depending on the nature of the waste, the organic material to be composted, the location and the type of enterprise conceived for management of the facility. 

Vermi-composting is recommended in rural areas where the material to be composted is largely agricultural residue, which does not harm the earthworms. TIDE is promoting vermi-composting as an income generating activity for women's groups, especially for composting of coconut waste in the coconut rich Tiptur taluk of Tumkur district of Karnataka. Coconut waste is not digested by normal earthworms and TIDE has used the earthworms related to a local stain of the African Night Crawler, released in Kasargod by the CPCRI for vermi-composting. 

Vermi-composting can be done either in tanks or in  bags. A tank of dimension 4.5ms x 1m x 1.5 ms can convert 1 ton of coconut waste into 300 kgs of compost with start up of 1000 worms. About 200 gms of cow dung may also be required. At the end of the composting cycle about 3000 earthworms are produced which can be sold. As tank composting requires an investment in the construction of tanks, an alternate method of vermi-composting is the bag composting. Plastic bags containing 30 kg of coconut waste, 100 worms and some cow dung are suspended on ropes between two trees or poles. 

Income can be generated both by sale of compost and earthworms.