Daniel Mwiti is a retired teacher and a farmer from Kaguma, Meru County, keeping red earthworms.
Mwiti started rearing red earthworms in 2018 when the Meru County Government supplied farmers with materials for the same.
The farmer makes good money from selling the red earthworms, seed worms and manure and some liquid.
Here is Mwiti’s story as told by WoK.
Background
In 2018, the Meru County Government spent Ksh 4.3 million to supply farmers with materials for earthworms and black soldier fly projects.
Mwiti is among local farmers who benefited from the multimillion project that many farmers shunned away from.
In an interview with Daily Nation, he noted that he was ridiculed for embracing the idea and even his wife had threatened to throw away the worms.
“I stood my ground and told my wife and children that it was my project, and they should not be bothered since I did not want their help,” he said.
Mwiti who also practices mixed farming said months later, neighbours and friends started thronging his home to learn about red earthworm rearing.
When the project was being rolled out, the farmers were given among other materials, a 200 litres plastic tank.
With guidance from the county officials, Mwiti split the plastic tank into two halves and place them horizontally on a one-meter raised structure.
At the base of the half tanks, he placed 10 kilos of concrete and placed a sisal sack, before adding some river sand on top of the sack.
Mwiti added some waste silage on the sand and poured 30 litres of water into each tank to provide a conducive environment for the worms.
With the one kilo of worms provided by the county government, he bought an additional one kilo of the worms from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) at Ksh 2,500.
Other than selling worms, Mwiti also sells organic manure made from silage waste consumed by the worms.
He also harvests a liquid which contains foliar fertiliser and sells them to farmers at Ksh 300 per litre.
Mwiti uses the liquid on his farm while he also feeds his 2,000 catfish with the worms.
“Since the concentrate is rich in protein, I experimented by adding it to the water that my cow drinks. The results were amazing. Within two weeks, the daily milk yield increased from five litres to 12 litres,” he added.
