Bioconversion of Agricultural Wastes into High Value Biocompost: A Route to Livelihood Generation for Farmers

Abstract

Agricultural farm-wastes produced after harvest of every crop are of great concern because of the problems of environmental pollution, rural sanitation, recycling and utilization. We have standardized a process of bioconversion of agricultural farm wastes at the farmer's own fields into biocompost for field application and further value-addition of bio-compost thus produced with the help of microbes of defined functional traits like biocontrol agents, plant growth promoters, phosphate solubilizers and nutrient mobilizers. After standardization of the whole process, the same was demonstrated to 456 farmers in different villages of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. Various farmer groups have adopted the process of bioconversion to produce biocompost and value-added bio-farm-inputs and commercialized the products for gaining economic livelihood.