THE COFFEE Industry Board has launched a project for the conversion of waste coffee pulp into organic fertiliser. There is increasing global interest in organic fertiliser as a substitute for the over-used and abused inorganic fertilisers which have been the mainstay of commercial agriculture for at least a century. The Jamaica Broilers Group has for years produced and marketed a bioganic fertiliser generated from the fermentation of cattle waste and citrus pulp. The Scientific Research Council has researched and developed biogas technology which produces both an organic gas as a fuel and organic fertiliser.
What is unusual about the approach of the Coffee Industry Board is the use of earthworms for the conversion of its bio-waste into fertiliser, a process known as vermicomposting. The CIB has imported California Red Earthworms which have proven to be particularly efficient in breaking down pulp waste into organic fertiliser. The worms multiply rapidly in agriwaste that they can feed on and the worm cast is rich in plant nutrients. They achieve about a 50 per cent conversion rate, so 50 kg of refined fertiliser can be obtained from 100 kg of starting material.
The coffee industry generates some 4.3 million kg of solid waste annually most of which end up as an environmental nuisance. The breakdown time for pulp under normal conditions is in the order of 240 days. The California Red Earthworm cuts this time to 90 days. Waste management by bio-processing has much to recommend it. The procedures are usually more environmentally friendly, pollutants are removed, and valuable by-products are generated.
The introduction of foreign species is, however, a matter that should be handled with great care. Our classic case of mixed blessings from species introduction is the mongoose which was brought here to control canefield rats. The mongoose has since pushed some native species like the yellow snake onto the endangered species list and has become a nuisance to poultry farmers.
The CIB should say how it plans to manage the California Red Earthworm in Jamaica. An international market niche has emerged for organically grown agri-products. This is a market into which Jamaica could quite profitably tap. The production of our own organic fertilisers from agricultural wastes, which are already there in large quantities as an environmental nuisance, makes good sense.
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