In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

VERMICOMPOST AS AN ECOPRODUCT

In Business, March/April, 2004, Vol. 26, No. 2, p. 17

Alternative enterprises are “partnering” with earthworms to become part of the small-scale, self-sufficient economic development scene in Cuba.

Jeri L. Berc, Olegario Muñiz and Bernado Calero

EARTHWORMS, through vermiculture, are now an important part of a new effort in Cuba to restore the health and productivity of its agriculture, based on a small scale, locally self-sufficient paradigm. Cuba has applied its education and extension system to combine traditional methods with modern science, and established a national program for the production and use of organic matter and biofertilizers.
Work has been carried out with the cooperation of the Cuban research centers, universities, farmers organizations (Asociación Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños), government ministries and nongovernmental organizations (Asociación Cubana de Técnicos Agrícolas y Forestales , Cuban Society of Soil Science, etc.). Through this program, alternative technologies such as the production and utilization of earthworm humus, compost, green manures, biofertilizers, use of residues of the sugarcane industry and the soil amendment zeolite, have been researched and implemented. Use of these products is rapidly increasing, illustrated by how the use of earthworm humus has increased 20 times since 2000 (Table 1).
Cuba is a highly agrarian country. Of a total of 11 million hectares, 6.7 million ha are suitable for agriculture and 4.5 million ha are cultivated (1 hectare = 2.471 acres). Of the land not suitable for cultivation, forests cover 2.6 million ha. The change in the agricultural technology paradigm has been accompanied by an equally dramatic change in land tenure relationships, and private marketing opportunities and incentives. Since 1990, state farm holdings have decreased from over 75 percent of arable land to less than 30 percent. These large state farms and enterprises have been redistributed to those interested in cultivating the land as individuals, families, or in small cooperatives. About 3,000 new cooperatives have been established. New incentives are being offered for production of many crops such as tobacco, cocoa, coffee, and rice, stimulating growth in diverse agricultural and livestock activities. Free agricultural markets were created in 1994, where farmers can sell production surpluses at prices set by supply and demand.
In addition to these changes in rural agriculture, a strong agriculture movement is also developing in Cuban cities and suburbs. The goal of this movement is diverse fresh produce from unused urban land and local resources applying organic fertilizers, biological pest control, and direct marketing in local communities. Annual fresh vegetable and herb production through “organoponics” and gardens in small plots and backyards has increased from almost 1 million tons in 1999 to 3.7 million tons in 2003. “Organoponics” is a crop production technique on raised beds consisting of 50 percent organic matter (preferably worm humus) and 50 percent soil.
CREATING AN ECOPRODUCT
Earthworm humus is a very high-quality fertilizer produced from organic wastes (organic manures), cachaza (sugar cane production filter cake residue), crop residues, etc. by earthworms. As the organic material passes through the worm's digestive tract, it is converted into a bacteria-rich material that can be easily handled, transported, stored and applied as a soil fertilizer. Production is carried out both on a smal-scale and commercial-scale.

Jeri L. Berc is with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington, DC; Olegario Muniz is Subdirector at the La Renee Experiment Station, Cuban Soils Institute, Havana, Cuba; and Bernardo J. Calero is Subdirector of Investigations, Microbiology, Cuban Soils Institute, Havana, Cuba.