Sort Your Kitchen Garbage for a Decent Income

What happens to all the garbage from your kitchen? How much do you pay garbage services every month to dispose waste from your house? Three sassy ladies, Millicent Mwihaki, Eunice Wambura and Fidelis Wangechi make money from kitchen waste that no one thinks about.

From left to right: Millicent Mwihaki, Fidelis Wangechi and Eunice Wambura

Today, human life is constantly threatened by chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart diseases. Health and medical pundits have narrowed down the cause for these diseases to one term, lifestyle. As my gym instructor likes to say, what you eat is what you fit.  How then do you fight these life threatening diseases? Organic food is the answer. It is free from inorganic fertilizer and pesticide residues.

All things organic

The buzz for all things organic has created numerous opportunities in the organic value chain where young enterpreneurs can benefit. In the organic farming value chain there are untapped markets in soil tillage, bio fertilizers, bio pesticides and marketing. Agripreneurs have an opportunity to do the dirty and reap big.

Red wigglers (Eisenia Fetida)

Millicent, Eunice and Fidelis found an untapped area in organic farming. They formed a group by the name Young Mkulima Self Help Group. They breed red wigglers or red earth worms that produce vermi compost and vermi juice. Vermi compost is a bio fertiliser used in organic farming. Vermi juice is used as top dressing for crops. 1 kg of red earthworms goes for Ksh. 2500. The worms take 4 weeks to breed and they multiply at an extremely high rate. The ladies also make extra money from vermi juice that goes for Ksh. 500 a litre.

Agriculture is not all dirt

When I first met Millicent, the team leader, her nails were neatly manicured, her make up was intact and her chic dressing described her nothing as a farmer. She looked like a business lady ready to sign a deal any time. She is a graduate of Kenyatta University. I was waiting for her to introduce me to a farm hand who helps the team with the worms business.

To my rude surprise there was no farm hand. Millicent introduced me to the Young Mkulima team: Fidelis the group secretary and Eunice the group treasurer. The three chic ladies do the work themselves. They get worms for Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). They place them in a worm bin. The bin has to be prepared before putting in the worms. Key materials required to prepare for breeding worms are: ballast, moist organic waste, a gunny bag and some dry grass for mulching.

Young Mkulima's worm bin

How to the group breeds red wigglers

Step 1. Make a small hole in at the bottom of the plastic bin. Fix a small pipe at the hole to drain the vermi juice; the excess water that drains out from the organic foods.

Step 2. Put ballast in the worm bin. Let it settle at the bottom of the container. The ballast drains out and sieves the excess water that forms vermi juice.

Step 3. Place a gunny bag on top of the ballast.

Red wigglers feeding on organic waste

Step 4. Put in your worms. You could start off with 1 kg to learn the craft.

Step 5. Pour in the organic waste for the worms to feed on.

Step 6.  Keep watering the bin regularly. You could use the water used to clean dishes from you kitchen.

Step 7. Place the mulching on the bin to insulate it. Red wigglers do not like sunlight. They will crawl to the bottom of the bin to run from sunlight if they are exposed to too much sunlight.

Step 8. Keep watering your bin to ensure the organic waste is moist at least once a day and constantly add organic waste to the bin.

Harvesting worms and worm juice

The target market for Millicent’s group is organic farmers. Farmers buy worms to make vermi compost, a rich bio fertilizer. The ladies also sell vermi juice or worm juice that is used as top dressing for organic farming. One litre bottle of vermi juice retails at Ksh. 500.