Have You Heard About Vermiculture?

Setrag Cherchian

Garden Grove, California

During my time in Armenia, Birthright paired me up with the Acopian Center, an environmental conservation and research center at the American University of Armenia (AUA). The Acopian Center's main goal is to protect Armenia’s biodiversity and natural resources through research, education, and public involvement. My scope of work at the Acopian Center consisted of preparing exercises and assignments on water and wastewater course and searching for the best available and economical biomass burners and pellet making equipment. However, my main focus was researching vermicomposting in Armenia.

I did research on vermiculture, which is the process by which worms are used to convert organic materials (usually wastes) into a humus-like material known as vermicompost. The goal is to process the material as quickly and efficiently as possible. I analyzed the agricultural, environmental, and economical benefits of vermicomposting, methods to improve vermicomposting, process of setting up the stacked bins for the redworms, and what is being done in Armenia. Armenia has a kitchen waste issue and the Acopian Center wanted to educate farmers on vermicomposting, because vermiculture allows the redworms to eat the kitchen waste and gain benefits from the organic fertilizers which they produce. I gave a Powerpoint presentation to the staff members of the Acopian Center, and they said they were going to use this information to educate students and farmers.

I also had the chance to visit Kalavan, an underdeveloped village located in Dilijan. After 3 hours of driving through beautiful scenery of evergreen trees and driving on bumpy roads, we arrived to a camp for underprivileged kids in Kalavan, where I was immediately greeted with warm bread and hugs. My co-worker and I gave them an education clicker regarding environmental issues in Armenia and had the chance to organize a debate to keep the kids motivated and active.

It was interesting to hear what the children had to say. They were knowledgeable on environmental issues despite coming from deprived backgrounds and kept going back and forth during the debates. We could have stayed there all night if the cook had not called us over for some green beans and pasta. The trip to Kalavan was my favorite day spent volunteering for the Acopian Center and recommend it to anyone who is interested in environmental issues.