Punjabs can of worms makes apples bloom in Himachal

Orchards in hill state major consumers of vermicompost made in Punjab,a state which still banks on chemicals.

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Forget the Biblical serpent,its the worms that are making apples tempting,especially in Himachal. While chemical fertilisers are still a mainstay in Punjab,vermicompost being made here has found favour with Himachal orchardists. Experts say the compost not only makes the fruit more nutritious,but also increases its shelf life.

Interestingly,the compost farmers have devised out-of-the-box marketing strategies to tap the Himachal market. One such farmer is Avtar Singh Saini of Tira village in Kharar. He says every year,he sends ten truckloads of manure to Himachal orchards,up to China border.

He started with one-kg earthworms bought from the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology PSCST in 2005. A couple of months later,he saw a tender advert of Kinnaur horticulture department for 30 tonnes of manure and applied for it. He got the contract,and while on his way back home he stopped at a school in Solan,where most of the students were wards of Himachal orchardists. Here,Saini took addresses of their parents and wrote to them. I told them that my compost,which I sell under the name of Akal Sahai,a licensed agency,has four times more nutrition and would give them better yield. And within four days I started getting response,and since then there has been no looking back, he says.

Churning out figures with aplomb,he says,I send 100 tonnes of manure to Himachal,which caters to about 15,000 trees. And if each tree gives two quintal apples,I am successful in giving 30,000 quintals of organic fruit.

Manure industry is not a male domain in Punjab. Harjeet Kaur,who runs Sanjivani Vermicompost and Worm Farms in Kandala village in Ropar,says she sends 12 to 15 truckloads a year to various part of north India through middlemen.

She has also chalked out a marketing strategy. After retirement of her husband,Ravinder Singh,Joint Director,Punjab Energy Development Agency,Kaur plans to set up organic manure counters at various petrol pumps. This is because people usually hesitate in bringing their vehicles to faraway farms for buying manure, she says.

Himachal lacks favourable climate for composting and also the raw material,cow dung,which is abundant in Punjab owing to huge dairy business.

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Suggesting that Punjab should tap the vermicompost market in Himachal and Uttarakhand,which has banned chemical fertilisers,Kaur says the government should ease specifications for granting licence to compost makers.

Dr Jatinder Arora,Additional Director of PSCST who has been motivating farmers to take up vermicomposting,seconds Kaur. Our state has abundant cow dung,which can be converted into organic manure to replenish the soil,which has been devoid of nutrients and micro-flora due to decades of wheat-paddy cycles, she says.

Business strategy of Rajesh K Jain,who has four acres of vermicompost farm in Jaspal Bangar village in Ludhiana,sets him apart. He started the business on large scale in 2005 after he got contract from Punjab citrus council. But after the council got shrouded in controversy,he looked towards hills. HPMC has an apple juice plant in Parwanoo. When its waste became a headache for the authorities,they contacted us for converting it into vermicompost,and forged a joint venture on equal profit-sharing basis. HPMC gives the compost to its apple suppliers,and deducts its price from their payment, he adds.

Phillaur-based Munish Gupta sells vermicompost in Himachal through commission agents. Punjab farmers are not ready to experiment,but their counterparts in Himachal not only eagerly use the product,but also give feedback.