The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Madurai News : Manure from dung, a roaring business

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Friday, Jun 22, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Manure from dung, a roaring business

How Mathur villagers make wealth out of waste

NOTHING GOES WASTE: A labourer busy drying the dung at Mathur near Madurai on Wednesday.

MADURAI: Anything that is organic is termed to be good for health. It is widely advocated by agriculture experts. When it comes to using organic fertilizers for better yield, there can be no second opinion.

Having realised this fact, a group of people in Mathur, a tiny village 15 km north of the city, off Alagarkoil Road, is involved in producing organic manure from oxen dung for years together.

T. Elango, panchayat president, said, “These areas are best suited for herdsmen to rear their cattle.”

On-site too

Farmers show keen interest in buying this fertilizer while some pay the herdsmen to house the cattle in their farms, so that the dung can be used in their fields. Primarily, oxen are used in this area. In Mathur, three groups are involved in this business.

More than 200 to 300 oxen are reared here.

“First big pits are dug in which leaves of ‘kozhunji’ and ‘erukkam’ plants are spread and dung is deposited on them and allowed to dry for four to five months. Once the dung is well dried, it is powdered and packed in bags. Each bag weighs about 25 kg and costs around Rs. 60 to 70.” Sensing good business, herdsmen with cattle from even far away places such as Ramanathapuram have started to arrive in Mathur.

“This fertilizer is producing good yield, besides the crop would be pest-free. If we had used three bags of composite chemical fertilizers for an acre in the past, after using this manure, it has come down to half-a-bag,” Mr. Elango said.

Now, people from Kerala take lorry-loads of this manure for use in tea plantations.

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