Ex-cashier strikes gold with creepy crawlies

If that’s not unlikely enough in the Maharashtra hinterland, here’s another: Asha Shivajirao Bhise. The former banker set up her vermicompost farm in Renapur taluka, Latur district just seven months ago, and today she has to deal with a steady stream of farmers — marginal and large — who troop in for a look-see.

‘‘I can’t believe it. The response has been tremendous,’’ says the 39-year-old who retired as a cashier from the Bank of Baroda three years ago. ‘‘I set out to educate women farmers on vermiculture and organic farming. But now I feel my aims will be reached long before I thought it would be.’’

Armed with her VRS money and a loan from her former bank — a total corpus of Rs 15 lakh — Bhise set up Vasundhara Bio Products and started her vermicompost project in September last year. ‘‘Within 40 days of laying the earthworm beds, I harvested 20 tonnes of compost. It was picked up by farmers within days. Now I am ready for the second harvest,’’ says the first woman in Maharashtra to undertake such a project on a commercial scale.

Enclosed within a special fence (essential to keep away mongoose, rats, frogs and snakes), the earthworm beds are two-feet wide mud racks, layered with a three-feet high bed of soyabean waste and cowdung. Soyabean can be replaced with groundnut, moong, tuar or urad waste.

‘‘I looked for healthy earthworms and bought them for Rs 800/kg. They are best transported in mud packing in the evening, and should be transferred immediately into the prepared beds. They should be fed dung and vegetable waste, and the feed should be replenished the moment it gets over — they eat very fast. The beds should be open, watered daily, and turned over every few days,’’ says Bhise. ‘‘It takes 40-45 days for a sizeable quantity of compost to form.’’

Apart from campaigning actively for organic farming, Bhise is working on an earthworm wash unit since the excreta of these creatures, when sprayed on plants, act as a natural pest-repellent. She also plans to cultivate earthworms and sell them to farmers and help them set up vermicompost units.

For a person who quit her job because she ‘‘got tired of counting money’’, then, the new occupation may not offer much relief.