YAP Proposal #88: Aquaphyto Biofertilizer Production Unit (Marjan Varmazyar, Iran)

Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) has officially started its activities as an international movement since 2006. The main purpose of this movement is to make the efficient use of the potentials of young professionals, in an association, for sharing their innovative ideas worldwide. Besides, empowering the youth to participate in national and regional decisions is another purpose of this network.

Since 2013, YPARD Iran has instigated its activities as the Iranian official representative of this movement hosted by Kimiaye Sabz Markazi NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) in Arak Province, Iran. From the very beginning, YPARD Iran has set the development of Eco-friendly Agriculture and Green Innovations as one of the main regional goals of this movement at the country level.

I, Marjan Varmazyar, have been cooperating with YPARD Iran since its early days of activities and administered several practical scientific projects in the experimental field of Payame Noor University of Arak when I was a B.S student of Agricultural Sciences.

During the same time, the idea of designing and producing Eco-fertilizers has come to my mind; and my postgraduate studies in Production of Medicinal Herbs have led me to keep my relationship with this project to the extent that I could take the supervision of designing this innovation to its final stage of sample production. Currently, I am doing my Master Thesis in addition to cooperating in the executive section of the Eco-friendly Village project.

The lack of inputs complying with the standards developed by International Federation of Agricultural Movement (IFOAM) in Iran, particularly in the field of Crop Nutrition, has prompted the Iranian Young Professionals to bring innovation and production of required inputs in the fields and orchards in order to produce healthy and organic products. To this end, the members of YPARD Iran could patent three inventions in the field of Crop Nutrition in accordance with the International Organic Standards, during their first two years of activities.

Enriched Vermiwash, as an innovative Bulky Organic Manure, is a complete fertilizer consists of beneficial microorganisms for the fields, orchards and greenhouses that can be used as an appropriate alternative to Synthetic Chemical Fertilizers. Enriched Vermiwash is a sort of liquid fertilizer which not only can be used as a nutrient in plants, especially in hydroponic cultivated plants, but also has an inhibitory role against diseases and Pests.

In this regard, Aqua-phyto Bio-fertilizer Production Unit, as the third invention, came into being which is specifically designed and manufactured for greenhouses and novice farmers. The products of this unit is a type of soluble Foliar Bio-fertilizer which consists of available raw materials in plant area including nettle leaves and Aleo Vera as well as beneficial microorganisms which are easily retrieved by farmers from the forest fertile soils.

However, a main part of this fertilizer consists of Vermiwash enriched with aquarium fish waste and microorganisms which, together with the aforementioned herbal and bio compounds, are mixed and sprayed on plants to different proportions depending on the nutritive need of plants or the presence of pests and diseases. The archetype of this device was produced two years ago, according to the International Patent Classification A01B:F01B; the quality of its produced bio-fertilizers was evaluated in the fields, orchards and greenhouses through conducting scientific experiments on different plants that yield good results.

The model of Eco-friendly village has been designed, over the past year, by YPARD Iran and with the attendance of the experts from Tolooe Safar Zagros, Ganjine Sabz, Ehyagarane Tabiat, Kimiaye Sabz Markazi NGOs as well as Arak Organization of Agriculture Jihad. The purpose of designing this model is achieving a favorable agricultural and residential environment in accordance with the standards beyond the current national standards.

In this project, the development of pure renewable energies, climate-smart agriculture (CSA), healthy and organic agriculture as a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) according to GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) standards, agricultural and domestic waste management, and training and promoting villagers with an emphasis on the attendance of rural youth and women have been considered as five important principles.

In addition to the intended training programs for the villagers, the educational and promotional section of this project, Eco-Club, has taken four other principles into account as a special outlook on the education and promotion of Green Products in the form of holding training workshops for empowering the rural youth and women.

On the one hand, rural youth are trained, in Eco-Club, to offer the healthy and organic agricultural products and processed productions and handicrafts to the tourists in department stores and restaurants or send them to the regional market, with regard the available regional potentials, under the standards developed by this model. On the other hand, the acquired experiences in the village are accessible to the other farmers both in this center and on the website of Eco-friendly village in cyberspace.

Since the first pilot project of Eco-friendly villages will optimistically be executed in Hezaveh village in the center of Iran, I hope that I can produce and provide seven inventive Aqua-Phyto Bio-fertilizer Production Units with a fund of $5000 together with their required raw materials, for a growing season, for the farmers of this mountainous village whose major products are grapes and other byproducts.

In other words, the production of each unit with its raw materials cost $650 and % 50 respectively. The remaining $100 is expensed for transportation of units to the village. This unit not only is economically cost-saving for farmers but also helps the development of cultivating healthy and organic products in villages.

Blogpost and picture submitted by Marjan Varmazyar (Iran) – marjanvarmazyar[at]yahoo.com

The content, structure and grammar is at the discretion of the author only.

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