Ignatius Mulama scoops a handful of moist soil from a two-metre long container hanging under a rabbit cage and tests its texture.

From the soil composed of rabbit droppings and decomposing hay emerges some tiny creatures.

“They are red worms,” Mulama says as he walks to a yellow basin containing some dark viscous liquid placed below the two-metre container.

The liquid is known as worm juice, which Mulama says they use as topdressing manure and pesticide.

The worm juice is excreted by the red earthworms and is high in organic nutrients, according to the owner of the farm, Joseph Lentunyoi, who Mulama works for as a farm manager.

To make the juice, water is sprinkled in the container hosting worms and their excretion. It then drips forming the juice.

Lentunyoi uses the manure to grow his over 2,000 acacia, avocado and pawpaw seedlings that he sells at between Sh5 (N10.50) and Sh10 (N21).

“We dilute the juice with water and drip around the roots of vegetables or spray it on leaves. This has resulted into healthy and green foliage vegetables that include sukuma wiki (collard greens).”

Similarly, the farmer uses rabbit urine as fertiliser and pesticide.

“We collect the rabbit urine and mix with worm juice to make a strong pesticide that has kept our crops free of pests.”

While topdressing, a litre of rabbit urine mixed with worm juice is diluted with five litres of water before it is dripped at the base of the plants. When he began rearing the worms, Lentunyoi, 35, started with a pack that he bought at Sh500(N1,050) from a farmer in Nairobi. They have now multiplied to thousands.

The worms have helped the 35-year-old make his four-acre farm that also hosts poultry and six zebu cattle, productive.

The farmer, who does not use chemical fertilisers and pesticides, has also planted tifrosha plant to curb mole rats when they feed on the plant’s roots. Besides the tree nurseries, the farmer has also set up an aloe nursery from which he sells each seedling at Sh30(N63) .

“The organic manure has helped me turn this piece of land that had been degraded by nomadic pastoralism to a productive piece. I bought it at Sh700,000 (N1.47m) early last year,” says Lentunyoi of the farm located in semi-arid Segera in Laikipia North Constituency.

According to Mulama, who makes an average of Sh50,000 (N105,000)from his ventures a month, liquid manure can also be made from cow dung.

“You place fresh cow dung in a gunny bag and then immerse inside a container full of water and leave it to decompose for 14 days.”

“The result is a strong solution that can both be used as pesticide and manure. Although if you want a solution suitable only for liquid manure, let the dung decompose for seven days,” Mulama adds.

Rearing the worms is not a difficult task, says the farm manager.

“The worms mainly feed on chicken waste. Then one needs to improvise a container to hold them. Place dry grass or hay inside the container, then a net and finally animal manure or poultry droppings before you introduce your worms,” he explains, adding that water should be sprinkled in the container though care is needed not to make the environment dump.

Though only one-year-old, the farm is attracting many admirers, from school-going pupils who want to learn about trees to villagers who parade to buy vegetables for dinner.

Lentunyoi calls his farm Laikipia Permaculture Centre. Permaculture, also known as permanent agriculture, only utilises organic farming methods.

According to Lentunyoi, who studied organic agriculture at Uganda Martys University and did permaculture training at the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia, this method of cultivation is sustainable even in large-scale farming though it calls for patience.

Dr Richard Onwonga of University of Nairobi’s Department of Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology says vermi-compost (manure from worms) is environmentally friendly, cheap and high in nutrients.

“Making use of earthworms to accelerate the breakdown of composts is quite effective. It is actually more superior than other composts because it has vermicasts (excretion of earthworms which has high nitrogen contents).”

Plants uptake of worm juice, according to Dr Onwonga, is high since it is already in liquid form.

“Basically, roots absorb manure or fertiliser once it is in liquid state. To avoid overdosing crops with the manure, a farmer needs an expert to analyse manure’s nutrient content so that he know what quantity to use.”

Can you upload pictures of the systems used and where will i get redworms in Nigeria.
I have only 3 rabbits and they are generating a lot of waste.

Thanks

Great stuff....Kindly upload photos of the farm....thanks

Great job. Following