Every day, the Centenary Farmers Market generates more than 500 kilograms of vegetable waste. And all of it goes to the landfill. To promote recycling of wastes, about 20 vegetable growers in Thimphu were trained on recycling vegetable wastes at the Centenary Farmers Market yesterday.
The farmers were trained on the Takakura method. The method involves adding a fermented mix of rice husk, rice barn, yeast, curd and sugar in the fruit and vegetable wastes. The compost will be ready in two months.
According to the farmers, making such manure will not only help in recycling wastes but also reduce dependency on imported manure.
“If we make manure from our vegetable wastes, we need not have to buy Indian manure and it will benefit us. I am motivated to produce the manure,” said Rinzin Dawa, a farmer from Jimina, Thimphu.
“Today we throw all our vegetable wastes without care. Now after this training we are inspired to make manure to keep the soil fertile,” said Ugyen Zangmo, another farmer from Jimina.
“Today, we are engaging most of the farmers who are supplying vegetables to CFM. So those people have ample opportunity to use this knowledge and skills on how to produce decompose waste manure through vegetable waste,” said Pema Gyalpo, General Secretary of JICA Alumni Association.
He added that such initiatives will help farmers grow organic vegetables since the manure will also be organic and will have less impact on the environment.
The move will also reduce the pressure on the landfill.
“If CFM alone can take care of their wastes and convert it into organic compost it would be much easier for us to manage at the landfill and also people can use their waste in their production of vegetables and fruits,” said Rinzin Om, an inspector from Thimphu Thromde’s Environment Division.
“Today both degradable and non-degradable waste are dumped together.And then it is taken to Memelakha landfill. The main objective of the training is that the degradable waste will benefit them if it is segregated,” said Tshering Tenzin, Senior Manager of the Centenary Farmers Market.
A quality test by the National Soil Service Centre on the manure found that it has high nitrogen content, which is essential for soil.
The JICA Alumni Association of Bhutan organised the programme in collaboration with the Thimphu Thromde and the Centenary Farmers Market with financial support from the Japan international Cooperation Agency .
Karma Wangdi
Edited by Tshering Zam
