The organic fertiliser from-flower-and-leaves-waste project at Mallickghat flower market in Howrah would take at least three months before construction work begins. A 250 square foot area beside the banks of the Hooghly River has been finalised by youth welfare minister Ujjal Biswas in July, but there has been no activity so far. “I believe that through this project we can deliver cheap fertiliser to farmers of our state. Construction work for this project would start within next three months,” said Biswas.

The members of Mallickghat Flower Market Association have come up with a unique idea of using 5 tonnes of waste composed of rotten flowers, leaves produced at the market everyday.

In this project, this waste would be amassed and dumped into this area to produce cheap vermicompost fertilisers. This organic fertiliser produced here would be sold to the flower farmers making business at Mallickghat flower market and to other farmers as well.

“Everyday a huge amount of waste is generates at the flower market. During the time of special occasions or pujas the amount of wastes increases leading to major difficulties for us in terms of clearing them. But in this project all the wastes would be cleared and stored at the dumping ground to generate organic fertiliser,” said Swapan Barman, secretary, Mallickghat Flower Market Association.

This project will be mutually beneficial to both the farmers and the flower market. “The monthly cost of clearing waste from the market is about 1.5 lakh and this also causes a lot of pollution. But this project would not only save this huge cost of clearing waste from the market but would also produce vermicompost fertiliser,” Barman said.

According to Rita Rahman, professor of Botany, University of Calcutta, vermicompost produced here organically would carry pesticides in great amounts so farmers using this fertiliser would not have to use external pesticides.