Vuong explains to farmers his methods of breeding worms (Photo courtesy of Le Minh Vuong) Hanoi (VNA) - Small earthworms hidegiant benefits that have not been fully exploited in Vietnam’sagriculture. The hope that they will be used more widely and be less expensivehas motivated 25-year-old Le Minh Vuong to keep pursuing his studies of wormsduring the past five years.
“Worms can eat organic waste and transformthemselves into organic and nutritious food for cattle, chickens, pigs, fishand shrimps while their compost is especially useful for enriching the soil,”he said.
“Fresh earthworms, fed by organic food such asdiscarded vegetables and fruits, can be used as nutritious food for human, oras ingredients to make up a variety of medicinal and beauty products. This isbecause they contain a variety of precious vitamins, amino acids and enzymes,”Vuong said.
With such enormous benefits, he stronglybelieves that earthworms can make a revolution in agriculture.
Vuong was born into a poor farmers’ family inNinh Hai district in the central province of Ninh Thuan. While his two elderlysiblings had to quit school at an early age to help their parents in farm work,Vuong and his other two siblings were given a proper education in the hope theywould do something better for the family and community when they grew up.
“When I was small, I used to hide from myparents and go fishing at noon. I used to dig up earth to find worms as bait.There would be always worms in the damp earth. The relationship between worms,nutrition and plants came into my mind,” Vuong said.
During his secondary school years, he witnessedthe mass death of shrimps and the huge amount of waste mud in the canals. Manylocal shrimp farming households had to sell their houses to pay debts.
He wanted to find the causes and solutions tothe waste mud, which he realised could only be gained through study. With hiskeen interest in nature, Vuong decided to focus on biology to accumulatefundamental knowledge.
During his university years, he successfullyconducted a study on producing organic fertiliser from earthworms which are fedwith waste mud in shrimp ponds.
The young researcher dedicated himself to hisstudies and started to dream about popularising organic agriculture in Vietnam.
After graduation, Vuong worked as aresearcher specialising in earthworms for a high-tech agriculture company inHCM City. The company focused on producing products from earthworms for plantsand animals.
He is putting a final touch to aneco-agriculture project on an eco-farm, earthworms raising and eco-tourism on atotal area of 10 hectares. On this farm, Vuong produced a variety of products,such as organic fertiliser from earthworms, pesticides from plants and solarlighting.
According to Vuong, breeding earthworms issimple as long as three essential elements are ensured - abundant of food,which is organic waste, cool conditions, and industriousness.
However, he said the huge benefits that can bemade from the small creatures have not been fully exploited by Vietnamesefarmers.
“Farmers have got used to applying chemicals,but there is a trend now for organic farm produce, which is forcing farmers togradually take up organic farming, including the application of organicproducts, such as earthworm compost,” he said.
Another problem, Vuong said, was the unstablequality of the earthworms produced by commercial companies, which has affectedthe reputation of honest earthworm farmers. Furthermore, there are fewspecialists to offer satisfactory answers or directions for farmers.
“I have therefore nurtured a dream of becoming aspecialist in earthworms to contribute to my home town’s agriculture,” he says.
Together with other members of the The He Uu Tu(Eminent Generation) group who share the same passion, Vuong has hosted variousseminars which introduce methods to improve impoverished soil, grow organicvegetables, produce organic pesticides and particularly, how to make use ofearthworms.
This amounts to helping farmers apply newmethods for sustainable agriculture, reducing the use of chemicals, utilisingdiscarded farm produce, and increasing productivity at the same time.
Vuong’s experience has been compiled intofour handbooks, which have been distributed free to all farmers interested inthe subject.
Since the end of 2016, his earthworm farm hasbeen busy welcoming farming tourists at weekend. The tours are free and havebeen organised by Vuong himself.
The participants experience a variety of farmingactivities, such as planting trees, harvesting fruit, working the land, andexchanging ideas with the garden owner to gain practical knowledge to apply ontheir own farms.
“There are many shrimp ponds in my hometown,”said Vo Van Phuong, a visitor from the southern province of Ca Mau. “However,the local environment is polluted by shrimp output and waste in the ponds.Joining this tour, I want to learn from Vuong and discuss with him how to breedearthworms from such waste.”
The tours also include senior farmers who wishto take advantage of cattle dung to raise earthworms or set up their ownearthworm farms. Vuong explains to them in detail how to nurture, feed andharvest the creatures before showing them aubergine farms grown byvermicomposting.
“It’s quite arduous to feed the earthworms on myfarm because there is such a large quantity. Sometimes my body is covered withcow dung, but on seeing the results of my work, which are rows of freshvegetables, I’m filled with happiness,” Vuong said.-VNA
“Worms can eat organic waste and transformthemselves into organic and nutritious food for cattle, chickens, pigs, fishand shrimps while their compost is especially useful for enriching the soil,”he said.
“Fresh earthworms, fed by organic food such asdiscarded vegetables and fruits, can be used as nutritious food for human, oras ingredients to make up a variety of medicinal and beauty products. This isbecause they contain a variety of precious vitamins, amino acids and enzymes,”Vuong said.
With such enormous benefits, he stronglybelieves that earthworms can make a revolution in agriculture.
Vuong was born into a poor farmers’ family inNinh Hai district in the central province of Ninh Thuan. While his two elderlysiblings had to quit school at an early age to help their parents in farm work,Vuong and his other two siblings were given a proper education in the hope theywould do something better for the family and community when they grew up.
“When I was small, I used to hide from myparents and go fishing at noon. I used to dig up earth to find worms as bait.There would be always worms in the damp earth. The relationship between worms,nutrition and plants came into my mind,” Vuong said.
During his secondary school years, he witnessedthe mass death of shrimps and the huge amount of waste mud in the canals. Manylocal shrimp farming households had to sell their houses to pay debts.
He wanted to find the causes and solutions tothe waste mud, which he realised could only be gained through study. With hiskeen interest in nature, Vuong decided to focus on biology to accumulatefundamental knowledge.
During his university years, he successfullyconducted a study on producing organic fertiliser from earthworms which are fedwith waste mud in shrimp ponds.
The young researcher dedicated himself to hisstudies and started to dream about popularising organic agriculture in Vietnam.
After graduation, Vuong worked as aresearcher specialising in earthworms for a high-tech agriculture company inHCM City. The company focused on producing products from earthworms for plantsand animals.
He is putting a final touch to aneco-agriculture project on an eco-farm, earthworms raising and eco-tourism on atotal area of 10 hectares. On this farm, Vuong produced a variety of products,such as organic fertiliser from earthworms, pesticides from plants and solarlighting.
According to Vuong, breeding earthworms issimple as long as three essential elements are ensured - abundant of food,which is organic waste, cool conditions, and industriousness.
However, he said the huge benefits that can bemade from the small creatures have not been fully exploited by Vietnamesefarmers.
“Farmers have got used to applying chemicals,but there is a trend now for organic farm produce, which is forcing farmers togradually take up organic farming, including the application of organicproducts, such as earthworm compost,” he said.
Another problem, Vuong said, was the unstablequality of the earthworms produced by commercial companies, which has affectedthe reputation of honest earthworm farmers. Furthermore, there are fewspecialists to offer satisfactory answers or directions for farmers.
“I have therefore nurtured a dream of becoming aspecialist in earthworms to contribute to my home town’s agriculture,” he says.
Together with other members of the The He Uu Tu(Eminent Generation) group who share the same passion, Vuong has hosted variousseminars which introduce methods to improve impoverished soil, grow organicvegetables, produce organic pesticides and particularly, how to make use ofearthworms.
This amounts to helping farmers apply newmethods for sustainable agriculture, reducing the use of chemicals, utilisingdiscarded farm produce, and increasing productivity at the same time.
Vuong’s experience has been compiled intofour handbooks, which have been distributed free to all farmers interested inthe subject.
Since the end of 2016, his earthworm farm hasbeen busy welcoming farming tourists at weekend. The tours are free and havebeen organised by Vuong himself.
The participants experience a variety of farmingactivities, such as planting trees, harvesting fruit, working the land, andexchanging ideas with the garden owner to gain practical knowledge to apply ontheir own farms.
“There are many shrimp ponds in my hometown,”said Vo Van Phuong, a visitor from the southern province of Ca Mau. “However,the local environment is polluted by shrimp output and waste in the ponds.Joining this tour, I want to learn from Vuong and discuss with him how to breedearthworms from such waste.”
The tours also include senior farmers who wishto take advantage of cattle dung to raise earthworms or set up their ownearthworm farms. Vuong explains to them in detail how to nurture, feed andharvest the creatures before showing them aubergine farms grown byvermicomposting.
“It’s quite arduous to feed the earthworms on myfarm because there is such a large quantity. Sometimes my body is covered withcow dung, but on seeing the results of my work, which are rows of freshvegetables, I’m filled with happiness,” Vuong said.-VNA
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