KARACHI: In the flood-scarred plains of southern Pakistan, where rising salinity and hardened soil are squeezing farm incomes, 30-year-old Dhani Satram has found unlikely allies: earthworms.

The mother of six farms in Bachal Sand village in Sindh’s Tando Allahyar district. In recent years, her sugarcane fields were losing productivity as repeated floods and long dry spells compacted the land.

Now she produces and applies vermicompost — an organic fertilizer made with worms — and says the results have been dramatic.

“First, we bring animal dung and water it. Then we make a bed and put the worms into it. When it is ready, we apply it to our crops,” she told Arab News, describing the simple process she carries out at home.

The results, she said, speak for themselves.

“Earlier, our sugarcane crop used to yield 1,000 mounds per acre. Now, we are getting 1,500 to 2,000 mounds per acre.”

A mound, a traditional South Asian agricultural unit of weight, equals 40 kilograms.

Pakistan ranks among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Intense monsoon rains and recurring floods regularly damage farmland, particularly in Sindh, where soil has also become increasingly saline and hard.

Vermicompost — often called “black gold” in Europe — is produced when earthworms break down organic waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer.

In Tando Allahyar, the movement is being led by 61-year-old Khalid Maqsood, founder of K-Organic, who runs what he says is Pakistan’s largest vermicompost training center.

Maqsood said he trained in India in 2015 and initially imported worms from England. He has since multiplied them locally into hundreds of composting beds.

“This vermicompost basically works on materials that are decomposable, except citrus,” he said. “It uses a specific Australian-bred worm called Eisenia fetida. Whatever it eats is decomposed. This is one of the fastest natural methods of decomposition in the world.”

He said the organic fertilizer is particularly useful in areas hit by floods and water shortages.

“With vermicompost, our crops and our land would not dry out the way they do with chemical fertilizers,” he said.

According to Maqsood, years of heavy chemical fertilizer use have made soil harder and less able to absorb water. Organic compost helps soften it, allowing rainwater to seep into the ground rather than run off.

He said the benefits are practical as well as environmental.

“When we use vermicompost, our expenses are reduced,” he said. “We saved Rs8,000 ($28.6) by cutting plowing. We reduced chemical fertilizer use. We also saved 20 percent water.”

The approach is spreading beyond Satram’s fields.

Mawjee Kachi, 38, who grows sugarcane, cotton, wheat and vegetables on six acres in the same village, said chemical fertilizers were no longer delivering results.

“The soil was getting hard and there was a water shortage,” he said. “After using vermicompost, the soil has become softer. The crops have grown well. There has been an increase in the average yield.”

“Earlier it was 800-900 [mounds per acre]. Now it has increased to 1,500-2,000.”

Beerchand, a farm supervisor trained at Maqsood’s center who only goes by a single name, has now started vermicomposting at a 2,500- to 3,000-acre farm in Mirpurkhas district.

“We have experimented with it,” he said. “We will increase it further ... If we are successful, we will expand it more.”

While it is still a relatively new agricultural method at the national level, Maqsood said universities and agricultural institutions in Sindh are now collaborating with his center, and the government is planning training programs to promote the practice.

He has also begun receiving export inquiries.

“We are currently at an early stage and don’t have enough quantity for exports,” he said, adding: “Within two years or even before that we hope to begin exporting.”

He sees the strongest potential in Gulf countries.

“The biggest and nearest markets are Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” Maqsood said.

“It has already given best results in date farming,” he added.