hackproject.org — Compost digestion monitoring — {July, 2016}
Kale Thami (Maila), a vegetable and flower farmer, has been making and using compost for his farms for as long as he can remember. He says he learned to make compost from his father.
Maila collects vegetable wastes and other bio-wastes from the farm and other places that he works. He also has a small guinea pig farm. There is a lot of wastage from this. He mixes all and puts them in a land pit.
“I am farming gimic (guinea pig) for waste to create most of my compost.” tweet this
Maila uses traditional methods to make the compost. In this he first digs a pit, places all the bio-waste that he can find and stacks them inside the pit. This he covers with larger leaves and then leaves it as is for digestion. He periodically checks for digestion level and moisture content in the pit. He also rotates the waste, by turning the waste at lower levels up and vice versa. While doing this he is able to check for both the moisture content and digestion levels.
If compost has not digested well and moisture content is low then he sprinkles water and covers the pit. When the waste start to break down to particles then he deems the compost ready and applies to the field.
Maila says sometimes the compost works extremely well and produces him good harvest. Sometimes though insects infest the soil and eat all the roots, destroying the plants. This normally happens when the compost is not digested properly. Though he monitors visually the level of digestion, he says even keen eyes and experience can be deceiving at times leading to undigested compost.
“Then I do not know what to do. I want help on ideas, technology or ways to know when my compost is ready.”
Maila feels that if there were a solution to monitoring the level of digestion of compost or a way to tell him if the compost is ready, then it would help him a lot. Then he could focus on getting better harvest as well digested compost normally results in one.
In the traditional method used to make compost there are 3 key parameters that need to be checked and/or controlled — temperature, moisture and breakdown of waste. Temperature goes high when the waste is getting digested and breaking down. Then the temperature comes down as the digestion nears completion. Moisture content slowly comes down to minimum as and when the digestion is completed. Moisture is required for digestion. If the pit is too dry, then moisture needs to be added to facilitate digestion. Breakdown occurs after a level of digestion and continues until full digestion when the waste start to crumble to particles.
Though Maila relies on visual methods, he feels it will make his compost making process a lot more easier if some methods or technology could be designed that will allow him to monitor this process automatically and he be informed when compost is ready or well digested.
These days with the advent of the raspberry pi and multiple single board computing machines and cheap and reliable sensors many devices have been designed that help in agriculture. From devices that control when to water plants, to devices that control entire greenhouses have been designed that are cheap, yet reliable.
“Raspberry pi and cheap sensors have revolutionized the world. Can they change compost making?”
Maila comes from an economically poor background. He and his wife, both have to work on the fields to get by with their living. Though the prices of food item in Nepali marketing is sky rocketing from year to year, the benefits do not trickle down to the farmers. Maila is also a victim of that. So he lacks enough income to buy all things for his farm. Fertilizers are costly. So Maila making compost helps a lot as it not only reduces his cost for fertilizer, it also helps him get rid of vegetable wastes around his home.
Cheap, yet reliable technology that could be provided to Maila and farmers like him would help them make better compost and produce better crops. This would help them make the necessary income to improve their lives.
“Maila needs to monitor temperature, moisture content and breakdown of compost to get a better fertilizer in a cheap, simple yet reliable way.”
Cheerfully Maila says, “I would like to thank anyone who could help us make the compost better.” tweet this
Look for similar problems, solutions provided by people to Kale Thami’s problem and lessons to learn about raspberry pi and similar devices at hackproject.org
Update : found out that, out of the many parameters that could be checked for proper digestion checking 2–3 parameters is good enough to get a good estimate. They are carbon dioxide, ammonia and pH value.
When carbon dioxide and ammonia levels go to lowest possible levels then digestion is normally done well. When pH value reaches between 6–8, then it can be estimated that digestion is done well.
Update : as mentioned on the Nepali National news today (Aug 29,2016), around 384 hectares of rice crop has been destroyed in Bardiya region due to an insect (gover Kira) whose source is undigested compost.
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