Land Development

NAPED Compost

MODEL SCHEME ON COMPOSTING THROUGH NADEP METHOD

Introducton
In dryland conditions, organic manures play a great role as they not only supply balanced nutrients but also retain
substantial amount of moisture. Traditionally, farmers used to apply farmyard manures to crops grown under rainfed
condition. No scientific procedures are followed for preparing the manure and as a result the quality of the manure
used to be very poor. Slowly over a period of time farmers have lost interest in farmyard manure and mainly started
depending on chemical fertilizers, which further deteriorated the soil health, infiltration and water holding capacities.
Organic manures are relatively buly materials, such as animal and plant wastes, added to the soil mainly to improve
the physical condition to replenish its humus content, to maintain optimum conditions for microbial activity and mae
good a small part of the plant nutrients removed by crops or lost through leaching or soil erosion.
!armyard manure "!#$% is the most commonly used organic manure in India. It consists of mi&ture of cattle dung,
the bedding used in stable and remnants of straw fed to cattle. Traditional method of preparing and storing !#$ is
generally faulty. The cattle dung together with stable waste and house sweepings is heaped loosely. The loose heap
lie e&posed to sun and the raw organic matter dry up. . In rains, it gets drenched and all the soluble nutrients get
leached out from the manure. 'lso, while the organic matter decomposes, the ammonia etc. escapes in to
atmosphere. The wastage of nitrogen rich urine, the loss of nitrogen due to the fermentation of e&posed cattle dung,
washing away of soluble mineral elements by leaching etc. reduce the manurial value of the !#$.
The loss of nitrogen and mineral elements caused by unscientific handling can be reduced greatly by storing dung in
a stone or bric lined pits, mi&ing large quantities of straw and other vegetable matter with cattle dung and eeping
the heap compact and moist. This encourages bacterial decomposition of raw organic matter, prevents loss of soluble
mineral elements through seepage and minimizes nitrogen losses. The quality of manure is also improved by the
concentrated feeds given to the cattle. $anure from cattle fed on cereal straws, grass hay is much less valuable than
that from animals fed on legume hays, grains and concentrates. (se of preservatives also enhances the quality of
the manure. )ypsum and super phosphate have proved most promising in preventing escape of ammonia.
There are several improved methods of compost maing, which increase the rate of decomposition and minimize the
losses of nutrients. *omposting is the process of reducing vegetable and animal refuses to quicly utilizable
condition for maintaining soil fertility.
+arious methods of composting have been researched both under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. N',-.
method of composting developed by Shri N.,. .andhari .ande from $aharashtra is one such processes facilitating
aerobic decomposition of organic matter. The compost made out of this process has been tested by several
institutions lie IIT, New ,elhi, )andhigram (niversity, *entre for Science, /ardha etc. including the farmers field and
found to be useful. This method taes care of all the disadvantages of heaping of farm residues and cattle shed
wastes, etc. in the open.

!" Detals o# NADEP met$od o# compostn%
The method requires construction of a tan admeasuring 0m & 1.2 m or 0.3 m & 1.4 internally with 54 cm thic
perforated bric wall all around in mud or cement mortar to a height of 6.7 m above ground. The above ground8
perforated structure facilitates passage of air for aerobic decomposition. The floor of the tan is laid with brics. The
tan is covered above with a thatched roof. This prevents loss of nutrients by seepage or evaporation and the
contents are not e&posed to sun and rain. The ingredients for maing compost are agro8wastes, animal dung and
soil in the ratio of 94:4:46 by weight. The ingredients are added in layers starting with vegetable matter followed by
dung and soil in that order. -ach layer can be about 94 g vegetable matter, 4 g of dung mi&ed in ;6 l of water and
46 g of soil so that 06 layers will fill the tan. !or convenience the number of layers could be reduced to half this
number by doubling the quantities of ingredients in each layer. Tree loppings and green manure crops can also be
used to fill up the tan if sufficient farm wastes are not available at time. The nutrients produced in the manure are
absorbed by the soil layers thus preventing their loss. 'bout 55846 1 of water is to be sprinled twice a wee after the
tan is loaded. The material loaded has to be left in the tan for about 166 to 156 days for complete decomposition of
the material. One tan can be used three times a year. /ith production of 0 tons to 0.4 tons of compost produced
per cycle about 7 to 16 tons of compost can be made annually from one tan. The compost can be stored for future
use, preferably in a thatched shed after air drying and maintaining it at about 56< moisture level by sprinling water
when ever needed. =y following the procedures suggested above, the compost could be preserved for about 3 to 2
months. It is advisable to sprinle cultures lie Trichoderma, 'zatobacter and .S= in layers to enhance the speed of
composting process.
There are certain inconveniences e&perienced by the farmers adopting this method. These include difficulty in
following the filling procedure as recommended, requirement of labor is more compared to traditional methods, filling
is difficult during the raining period, e&penditure on transport of silt when the unit is away from the field. 's the
process needs 1.4 t of soil for every cycle, this results in removing soil. >owever, if the tans are installed in the same
field where agro8wastes are generated and manure to be used, this is not a limiting factor. It is very simple to
construct and easier to operate. In this method compost can be prepared with minimum quantity of cow dung use and
hence, it can be considered as very versatile model.
&" Unt Cost
The cost of construction of the tan with bricwor in cement morter and light thatched roof has been estimated at
?s.9166@8 per unit and the operational cost has been estimated at ?s.746@8 per cycle per plant. The details of the
cost estimation are given in 'nne&ure8I.
'" Producton #rom one unt
'bout 0 t of compost is generated per tan per cycle. In the first year 5 cycle and from the 5nd years onward 0 cycles
can be produced. Thus, each tan can produce 3 t in the first year and 7 t from the 5nd year onwards.
(" Return #rom t$e manure
It is e&pected that the improved compost is used in the own farm only and the crop yields go up as a result
substantially. The e&cess manure can be sold to the neighboring farmers. If any farm is having large quantities of bio8
wastes from orchards, vegetable farming etc., more no of tans can be installed and the e&cess production can be
sold to other farmers so that some cash is generated from farm wastes.
!or woring out the economic viability, however, the cost of the compost is assumed as ?s.1666 per ton. =ased on
the returns at this value the repayment schedule for one unit of 5 tans is given in the 'nne&ure8III. !or units of 9
tans, the repayment may be increased accordingly.
)" Unt S*e
It is necessary that a farmer should have at least 5 tans so that when one is filled up the other one is available for
loading the material generated in his farm. Thus, for a farm size of 4 acres dryland a unit of two tans is needed. If
the farmer is having mi&ed farm of dry land and irrigated farm, one should have 9 tans. >ence, the following unit
costs are suggested.

+arm s*e No o# tan,s Investment RS Mar%n RS -an, loan RS
,ry land up to 4 acres 5 2566 256 ;026
,ryland of 4816 acres 9 13966 1396 19;36
$i&ed farm of dry and irrigated land of
4 acres
9 13966 1396 19;36

!or other farm configurations, different nos can be considered taing the above as a guidance.
;. +nancal Anal.ss
The cash flow statement covering the =enefit *ost ?atio "=*?%, Net .resent /orth "N./% and Internal@financial rate
of return "I??@!??% have been wored out for the proAect. Normally the =*? should be greater than 1, N./ should
be positive and I?? should be greater than 14<. ?esults of !inancial analysis for the proAect based on discounted
cash flow technique are as under :
%o to top

N./ "?s.% 07376
I?? "<% B 46
=*? 5.15
'verage ,S*? 5.3;
?epayment .eriod 3 years with 1 year grace period

The detailed financial analysis has been given in 'nne&ure8III.
2. +nancal Assstance
The financing of compost through N',-. method would be considered for refinance support by N'='?,.
Therefore, all participating bans may consider financing this activity subAect to their technical feasibility, financial
viability and banability.
7. Mar%n Mone.
The =eneficiaries @ !armers should normally meet 16< of the proAect cost out of their own resources as margin
money. >owever, it may undergo changes subAect to guidelines issued from time to time.
16. Interest Rate
Interest is as determined by financing ban. >owever, for the present model interest rate has been assumed at 15
per cent.
11. Securt.
=ans may obtain security as per ?=I norms.
15. Repa.ment Perod
,epends upon the gross surplus generated. The principal and interest will be repayable in 3 years with 1 year grace.
10. Re#nance Assstance
's per the e&isting policy, N'='?, provides refinance assistance C 76< of ban loan. >owever, it may vary from
time to time.

Anne/ure 0 I
NADEP COMPOST TAN1 2 UNIT COST
1. Spec#catons 8 *apacity 8 9.23 m0
Size 8 0m & 1.2m & 6.7m
Thicness of wall 8 54 cm
5. Constructon cost

=rics 1566 nos C ?s.1466@1666D *ement 566 gs
C ?s.0.66 per g Sand 0 m0 C ?s.166@ per m0
1266
366
$asons 0 No. C 166@ per day
Eabourers 2 No. C ?s. 36@ per day Eight thatched
roof,
ES Total
066
066
926
356
'344

$aintenance cost per year 8 566
'" Operatonal cost
*ow dung 146 g C ?s.6.56@g 8 06
'gro8waste 1046 g C ?s.6.54@g 8 004
Soil "a% *ost of digging 1466 g by two labourers C ?s.36@8labourer 8 156
"b% *ost of transport 5 carts C ?s.46@8 8 166
D /ater sprinling charges 8 Once in 9 days 06 times 94 minutes
each time 55.4 hrs i.e 0 labourers C ?s.36@8 per day 8 126
*ost of tan filling 5 laborers half day 8 36
*ost of unloading, removing undecomposed material etc.
one labour C ?s.36@8 per day 8 36
D $iscellaneous 8 34
88888
Total 5(4
Anne/ure 0 II
Economcs o# NADEP Compost 0 Unt o# ! tan,s

Sr.
No.
Items #ears
I II III F G+
A Cost 2566 8 8
1 *onstruction of
tan
2566 8 8
5 Operation *ost 0266
"5 cycles in a year%
4;66 4;66
"0 years in a year%
0 $aintenance *ost 8 966 966
9 Interest on
operation H
maintenance cost
8 405 249
4 Total *ost 15666 3305 3749
- -ene#ts
3 *apacity available 15 12 12
"ton%
; *apacity
utilization
46< 26< 76<
2 'ctual .roduction
"ton%
3 19.9 13.5
7 'ctual =enefit
"?s.1666@ton.%
3666 19966 13566
16 Net =enefit "8% 3666 ;;32 7593



Anne/ure2III Model sc$eme on compostn% t$rou%$ NADEP met$od