VERMICULTURE AS THE BASIS OF AGRICULTURAL REFORM IN RUSSIA

 

Konin S.S.

                                                 

General Director    «GREEN-PIK» Company

11-A, Severny proezd, Kovrov, Russia, 601907.

Tel. (09232) 2-48-80, fax(09232) 4-85-93; E-mail: info@green-pik.ru

 

 

           The corporation «Green-PIK» was established in 1989 in Kovrov (Vladimir region, Russia). It includes 22 enterprises. Capital stock – 5.000.000 shares belonging to 75 000 stockholders. The corporation “Green-PIK” mission is a high-quality goods production on the basis of ecological agriculture. The agricultural production is situated in Kovrov, Suzdal and Gus-Khrustalny regions. It covers the area of 46 thousand hectares of agricultural lands.

           A group of Russian scientists under direction of Doctor of Medicine, Professor A.M. Igonin has been working out effective methods of vermicomposting for more than 20 years (1).

           In 2000 the corporation «Green-PIK» founded the biotechnological experimental laboratory. By 2003 scientists and businessmen has joined together their efforts providing the establishment of modern technology of industrial vermicultivation being ahead of the world progress (2).

The corporation «Green-PIK» is planning to export vermicompost (biohumus). Arabian countries are the main buyers of vermicompost in the world market; therefore for vermicompost production we use only cattle dung.

Raw vermicompost production is organized in five agricultural firms, being parts of Agrofirm «Green-PIK». For all-the-year-round vermicultivation we use the reconstructed farms and vegetable storehouses. In 2005 the annual production rate is 15 thousand tons. The product price is about 1000 rubles (RR) per one ton, at domestic market the wholesale price is 6000 rubles per ton. Export price is about 600 US dollars per ton.

How to improve living standards in the countryside and feed a town?  How to attract investments for agricultural modernization?

The key to the problem is participation of Russian agricultural producers in the international division of labor. The objective fact is that only Russia is capable of providing the world market with qualitative organic fertilizers of new generation in the necessary quantities. The world agriculture is changing over to ecological agriculture and our task is to turn this fact to our economical advantage.

How to support the Russian cow? In the USA and the EEC for one cow there are grants costing about $700 a year. Processing of litter manure from a cow (including offspring) allows receiving 12 tons of vermicompost and about 200 kg of earthworm biomass annually at a total cost of $3.500 and profitability more than 300% in current prices of the Russian market.

1 ton of manure processed according to the technology «Green-PIK» provides 5 valuables:

              - 600 kg of vermicompost;

              - 10-15 kg of earthworms «Staratel» biomass;

              - quality environment;

              - vacancies in the rural area;

              - extra profit.

          Advantages of «Green-PIK» technology (in comparison with traditional):

                    - production cycle is 140 times shorter;

                    - the number of coprolites in biohumus is 1.5-2 times higher (main aspect of quality);

                    - labor inputs are 40-50 times lower;

                    - material inputs per unit produced are hundreds of times lower.

            It is necessary to implement the program. Only qualitative production can help us take care of our nation’s health. To supply Russian consumers with food stuffs of exclusive quality it is necessary to convert agriculture to ecological (organic) agriculture. To cover the arising deficiency of humus in Russian agricultural soils at the amount of 37 million tons each year, it is necessary to apply up to 800 million tons of organic fertilizers to soil. To get the same result it is sufficient to apply 80-120 million tons of vermicompost to soil. At the same time sources of non-polluting organic raw material provide 300 million tons of vermicompost annually.

           Program objectives: Satisfaction of national needs in products of exclusive quality     (PIK-products) on the basis of ecological agriculture, modernization of agricultural producers involved in the program.

           Tasks:

              - to organize vermicompost production on the basis of earthworm cultivation in volume 300 million tons annually;

              - to organize delivery of 180 million tons of vermicompost for export that will allow national agriculture to receive annually more than 100 billion US dollars of  foreign exchange  earnings. The acquired resources will be enough to implement the program of agriculture modernization as a whole;

               - to organize PIK-products manufacture on the basis of ecological agriculture, vermicultivation and application of qualitative organic fertilizers (120 million tonsof vermicompost to be usedfor a domestic consumption).

             The main driving force of «Green-PIK-300-sustainable agriculture» Program is private industry as a basis of responsible business management. Members of the Program become shareholders of the Company. One of the major tasks of the Program is to access every Russian region, up to individual consumer, to transform new products into goods of daily demand. Having that goal in mind we are planning to create «Green-PIK» bases in all agricultural regions of Russia.

            Participants and sources of the program:

            To implement the program on the basis of the corporation «Green-PIK». The Consortium of Earthworm is created and shareholders of «Green-PIK» are participants to this Program. On the basis of private property we are planning to involve 320 thousand personal subsidiary farms, 100 thousand farmers, 25 thousand agricultural firms and 1000 agro-industrial complexes. In total it is supposed to employ more than 1.5 million villagers in new branch. The annual production rate in new branch considering export targets will make $90 thousand per one employee.

           Resources of the program:

           To organize the production of such scale, it is necessary to have about 1 million tons of earthworms. The genetic potential of earthworms «Staratel» allows reaching the above-mentioned production volumes from 30 tons of earthworms already available within 1.5-2 years.

           Advantages of «Green-PIK» Program:

           - perfect product with unique consumer properties (faultless quality, extended storage period, raw material for future production);

            - high demand for qualitative vermicompost, rapid-growing domestic market capacity;

            - high export potential;

            - high solvent demand;

            - sales are protected by Russian trademarks «Staratel», «Humistar», «Green-PIK».

           Vermicompost as a perfect organic fertilizer. Vermicompost is an ecologically pure fertilizer. It contains a whole balanced complex of all essential nutrients and microelements, enzymes, soil antibiotics, vitamins, plant growth and development hormones. Vermicompost is used without any restrictions for growing vegetables, fruits, bushes and trees in gardens, hothouses, nurseries, home flowering, in city’s nature-oriented complexes for parks and recreation areas beautification.

           Liquid plant feeding «HUMISTAR» is extracted from a high-quality vermicompost produced by earthworms «Staratel». «Humistar»is a complex of natural ecologically pure and safe nutrients, humic substances, plant growth and development stimulants.It is useful for growth, metabolic exchange and photosynthesis providing increase in yield capacity of different agricultural crops. The fertilizer contains all soluble vermicompost components: humates, fulvic acids, amino acids, vitamins, natural phytoharmones, micro- and macroelements and spores of soil microorganisms. Bactericidal properties of the fertilizer are determined by bacteriostatic proteins excreted by earthworms, and antibiotics which simbiont microorganisms excrete in the earthworm’s gut during vermicultivation.   Preparations for different crops can be produced with the help of micro- and macroelements (3).

         The corporation «Green-PIK» contributes greatly to the development of Russian soil science:

        - two International Scientific Conferences «Earthworms and Soil Fertility» were held. Representative of scientific schools from 19 countries of the world took part in these conferences including scientists from the USA, England, China, India, South Africa, etc.;

        -  we finance developments of 20 leading Russian scientists in the field of vermicultivation;

              - we published the journal «Earthworms as a source of wealth»;

              - we established Earthworm Research and Development Institution named after Professor Igonin;

        - we hold school scientific conferences.

We are giving the example of the business plan of our Agrofirm «Sannikovo» Ltd. The agrofirm is practicing vermiculture.

Agrofirm  “Sannikovo”

                                  ↓                               ↓

Cattle breeding
Milk	Meat
Vermicultivation

 

Plant cultivation
Food	Vegetables

 

1styear (2005), 130 cows;   3 500 l

 

 

 

Ser.No.	Production	Volume (t)	Price RR	Income	Profit
1.	Milk	455	6	2 730	350
2.	Meat	30	30	900	-250
3.	Vermicompost	1000	3	3 000	2 000
4.	Earthworms	10	150	1 500	1 000
Total:				8 130	3 100

 

2ndyear (2006), 200 cows; 4 000 l
Ser.No.		Production	Volume (t)			Price RR	Income	Profit
1.		Milk	800			6	4 800	800
2.		Meat	40			30	1 200	-
3.		Vermicompost	2 000			3	6 000	4 000
4.		Earthworms	20			150	3 000	2 000
Total:							15 000	6 800
3rdyear (2007), 300 cows; 4 500 l

 

Ser.No.	Production	Volume (t)	Price RR	Income	Profit
1.	Milk	1 350	6	8 100	1 350
2.	Meat	50	30	1 500	300
3.	Vermicompost	3 600	3	10 800	7 200
4.	Earthworms	36	150	5 400	3 600
Total:				25 800	12 450

 

So you can see that the agrofirm became profitable within the last two years.

Implementation of «Green-PIK-300 – ecological agriculture» Program will help to:

       -  attract investments for agricultural modernization;

             - provide consumers with food products of exclusive quality;

             - change over to ecological husbandry and increase productiveness at the same time;

             - reduce seed rate;

             - increase agricultural profitability;

       - expand food export;

       - improve living standards of rural population and society in general.

Conclusions:

1. Earthworms are the source of investment for agricultural modernization in Russia.

2. Earthworms are global source of soil fertility improvement for satisfying the Russian people demand for food products of exclusive quality.

3. Russia has great competitive advantages providing agriculture with leading positions in the field of ecological agriculture.

 

Reference

1. Patent  RU№2058737  29.10.1991.

2. Patent  RU№2255078  16.01.2004.

3. Patent  RU№2253641  06.10.2004.