High demand for organic fertiliser
 

Swarnaseeli with some fertiliser

People are becoming more health conscious which has resulted in consumers paying a premium price for organic food. This has opened up a separate market for organic fertiliser without chemicals to be used in the cultivation of organic food. Ramani Swarnaseeli together with her husband was one person who saw the opportunity of manufacturing organic fertiliser a lucrative business.

First place

'At first we had three cows and we built a cadjan roofed hut for them. Then we increased the number of cows to 10 and used asbestos sheets for the roof. During this time poor people got Janasaviya and we also received a card. Using the dung we grew all the vegetables and fruits in our home-garden.

'There was a competition to select the best home-garden and we won the first place, said Swarnaseeli.

Organic fertiliser

'During this time we started collecting dung and making compost and my husband who was a conductor helped and supported a lot. This land is owned by my husband's father and when we started there was not even one plant.

We planted everything and we collected the waste water from the temple and watered the plants. Once the trees started growing we came here.

Commercial production

'My husband went for training in Organic cultivation. Once he came back we started making organic fertiliser.

'Three years back we decided to start commercial production. We started very small level and expanded it.

Manufacturing

Packets of fertiliser

'On average we make two tons of fertiliser per day. The fertiliser is sold as 5, 10 and 30 kg packs.

Demand

'The demand for fertiliser increases during the rainy season but earlier we couldn't produce any fertiliser during the rainy season as we didn't have funds to put up a building.

Support

'Lanka Puthra Development Bank supported us to obtain a loan and with that we put up a building. 'Now we don't have to stop production of fertiliser during the rainy season, said Swarnaseeli. A mother of two children, a daughter aged 16 and son aged 11 she and her husband support each other.

Future plans

'We want to expand the production of fertiliser and supply to shops in Colombo,' said Swarnaseeli.