translated from Spanish: Puruándiro City Council bets on worm farming to reduce costs for agricultural producers

Puruándiro, Michoacán.- As part of the strategies of the Directorate of Rural Development to promote the proper management of organic waste and support farmers in the municipality to lower costs in the nutrition of their crops, the construction of worms has been implemented.
The construction of worms consists of breeding and growing Californian red worm to obtain two products: worm and worm leaching. These products will serve the farmer to reduce costs in the nutrition of his crops by replacing by a percentage the chemical fertilization, and the leachate that replaces chemical foliars; there are cases where costs are reduced by up to 50%.
The maintenance of these worm beds is based on manure of cattle, horses and chivas as well as organic waste mainly fruit shells and eggshell that will serve as food to the worm.
There are currently 14 worms in the municipality, where the town hall headed by Mayor Belinda Iturbide Díaz is responsible for providing the breeding foot to start with the production of Californian red worm from which the leachate will subsequently take advantage.  
It is noteworthy that talks and workshops have been held in the different communities of the municipality such as Ururuta, La Quemada, La Barranca and Janamuato by agricultural engineers, Arnulfo Alvarado Aguilera and Sergio Lemus Zaragoza, to agricultural producers where they expose the benefits of worm farming and answer the doubts that producers have about sustainable agriculture in general.
Humus or worm droppings increase seed germination capacity, promote plant growth, aid flowering, improve resistance to pests and diseases, improve water absorption and retention capacity, and increase microbial activity in soil.
Farmers in the municipality interested in starting with the worms for the benefit of their crops can go to the Rural Development Directorate, located in the San Juan Market of the municipal headwaters.

Original source in Spanish