BERÇEM CÛDÎ

Kobanê - The Ecology Committee of the Euphrates canton in northeastern Syria has developed a project called, “Vermicompost”, a project aiming at producing organic fertilizer, to protect the environment. Vermicompost is the product of the decomposition process using various species of worms, usually red wigglers, to create a mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and vermicast. The project aims to provide organic fertilizer to farmers in the carton in the four months.

Eco-friendly project

“We brought 8,000 red worms from the Jazira Canton in June 2024 to start our project,” said Nesrîn Karho, an environmental engineer. “Then, we put the worms in animal shelters. We feed the worms everything such as vegetable and fruit scraps, crushed egg shells and wood chips, except sour fruits, garlic and onion. Worms love an environment with a moisture content of 70%. Using compost in agriculture is an effective water conservation measure.”

100 tons of compost should be ready at a time, Nesrîn Karho stressed. “We are still in the process of growing the worms. We brought 8,000 worms and now have millions. However, we need more worms to produce 100 tons of natural compost every three months.”

‘Our aim is to have alternatives’

The project has two goals; first goal is to transform waste into an efficient and sustainable fertilizer without a significant harmful impact on the environment. “We aim to use this fertilizer as an alternative to chemical fertilizers because chemical fertilizers cause harmful effects on the soil, air, people, animals and the environment. The second goal of the project is to protect the environment.”

The project is the first of its kind in the canton. Nesrîn Karho hopes that “all farmers and environmentalists will use organic fertilizer without using chemical fertilizer so that we will have a clean and healthy environment together.”