EM Solution & EM Based Compost Preparation

Preparing E.M. based compost & EM Solution:

How to prepare EM-based quick composting:

Effective micro-organisms (EM) contains of common & food-grade aerobic and anaerobic micro-organisms: photosynthetic bacteria, lactobacillus, streptomyces, actinomycetes, yeast, etc. The strains of the micro-organisms are commonly available from microbe banks or from the environment. There are no genetically engineered strains that are in use.  There are  seven small-scale organic fertilizer units have been using the EM-based quick production process since 1999 in Myanmar. They are owned and operated by women’s income generation groups. A unit consists of nine pits measuring about 180 cm (length) × 120 cm (width) × 90 cm (depth), enclosed by low walls and covered with a roof .

Raw materials used for Em based compost:

The raw materials for organic fertilizer production are:

How to Prepare EM solution:

One litre of ‘instant solution’ is made by mixing 10 ml of EM, 40 ml of molasses and 950 ml of water and leaving it for five to seven days, depending on temperature. The solution is then added to 1 litre of molasses and 98 litres of water to obtain 100 litres of ready-to-use EM solution. This amount is enough for three pits. The EM solution functioning as accelerator reduces the composting period from three months to one month.

Following is the Procedure:

All the ingredients are mixed together, except accelerator. A 15 cm layer of mixture is spread in the pit and accelerator is sprinkled on it. This procedure is repeated until the pit is full. The pit is covered with a plastic sheet. Two or three weeks later, the whole pit is mixed in order to boost aerobic decomposition. The compost is ready to use a couple of weeks later. A pit produces 900 kg of final product per batch. The product is usually packed in 30-kg plastic bags. Assuming that it takes 30 days on average to produce a batch and that only eight pits may be used for technical reasons, the annual potential production capacity is 86.4 tonnes (0.9 tonnes × 8 pits × 12 months). Within the framework of the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme project on promotion of organic fertilizers in Lao PDR (TCP/LAO/2901), a simple EM-based quick composting method, as detailed below, is promoted.

Raw materials used for EM solution preparation:

The raw materials for compost production are:

1. Rice straw
2. Farmyard manure
3. Urea fertilizer
4. EM solution

About actual Procedure:

Straw is stacked in layers of 20 cm height, 1 m width, and 5 m length to form a pile. A unit pile is about 5 m (length) × 1 m (width) × 1 m (height) in size. The pile is sprinkled with water  for adequate moisture content, followed by addition of a manure layer 5 cm high, and the sprinkling of a few handfuls of urea (100-200 g). EM solution, prepared in the same way as described in the Myanmar example, is sprinkled to accelerate aerobic decomposition.

This procedure is repeated until the pile is about 1 m high and then it is covered with a plastic sheet. The pile is turned after two weeks and then again after another week. Normally, the compost is ready two weeks later when the heap has cooled down and the height of the pile has fallen to about 70 cm.

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