wealth from agricultural waste

                    WEALTH FROM AGRICULTURAL WASTE

Huge amount of agricultural waste (crop residues, animal dung, vegetable peel offs etc) are produced per year but due to lack of awareness these are misused or thrown away without making it as a source of earning. In agriculture farmers follow following practices:-

1.    Floriculture

2.    Animal husbandry

3.    Crop production

4.    Fruit production

From these tones of waste are produced and not made worth of it.

In floriculture the petals of flower shed off before plucking due to wind or other factors and later these petals dry up and are of no use but if these are collected just after falling these can be used in perfume industry for making natural perfume which is sold costly, gulab jal, potpourri, making natural soap, in decoration of wall by floral art, DIY flower candles are also made and can be sold in temples at good amount. The leaves and barks of neem are also used by ayurvedic pharmaceuticals in making medicine and are also used in making insecticides.

Animal husbandry is common practice and is found everywhere in villages through this tones of animal dung is collected every month and these manures are used by the companies who cultivate mushrooms and other higher economic crops for better quality and yield. Cow and buffalo urine along with some elements is used for control of gundhi bug and all type of sucking pest. Cow urine is helpful in treatment of leprosy, abdominal colic pain, bloating and cancer. A mixture of cow urine, triphala and cow milk is useful in treatment of anemia. A study from Mandsaur claimed that it benefits cancer patients. So farmers could collect cow urine and sell to ayurvedic pharmaceuticals. Through these animal dung and leaves of neem and extract of garlic when mixed a good quality of insecticide and manure can be prepared. By the dung of animals dung cakes are prepared and can be used as a biofuel for burning. The dung when collected in a tank can be a good source of biogas as LPG gas rates are very high so biogas is useful source for poor farmers. Elephant dung can be sold to paper industry as      elephant dung contains mostly fibers so its dung is also used in making papers. Elephant dung can generate 115 pages per day.

Crop production produces massive amount of waste, the residues of crops, straws, husk, bagasse etc can be used in making wealth. The straw of paddy is used in producing power. In addition for rice mills with diesel engines the gas produced from rice husk can be used in the existing engine in a dual fuel operation. The straw of paddy and wheat is used as a biofuel as a substitute to coal. A mixture of clay and straw known as cob is used as building materials. The roof of huts are made by straws and cut pieces of bamboo, so one can start his own business by making roofs for huts. Straw are also used as a fodder for feeding livestock. Straw are also a good source for mulching. Syngas is also produced from crop residues which are used for producing electricity, making ethanol, gasoline and diesel. The bagasse obtained from sugarcane is used as a substitute for wood for production of pulp, paper, and board. It produces pulp with physical properties that are well suited for generic printing and writing papers. Bagasse is used as a primary fuel source for sugar mills. Electricity could also be produced from bagasse. 

In Fruit production the fruits which get wounded on falling from trees and cannot be stored for a long time, their pulp should be extracted and sold to bottled juice producing factories and for making of squash. The seeds of mango are used in making plywood, mango seed kernels control hair loss dandruff as well as early graying of hair. Mango seeds and skin are used in making ayurvedic medicines, mango motifs and paisleys are used in Indian embroidery styles and found in Kashmiri shawls. Mango leaves are also used for decoration in festivals. Mango peels contribute to the lowering of risk of cancer, Alzheimer disease. The leaves of banana are used for mulching and in most of the places it is used as a plate for serving food on it. The peeled and waste part of these fruits and vegetable can be used in making vermicompost.

So by studying these facts we can conclude that a farmer can earn a good amount of money by selling these wastes to their respective industries. Moreover they can start their own business by making biofertilizers manures and by selling dung cakes.