Thejoto Nienu
Kohima, March 6 (EMN): The alarming rise in environmental challenges caused by climate change has led a Naga man to respond to the crisis with innovative products for sustainable agricultural practices.
Rokobikho Savino from Kohima, a former lecturer, is the proprietor of Gwizan Organics and Technologies and is now living his dream of being in the agricultural field.
He shared with Eastern Mirror that his interest lies mainly in agriculture because Nagaland is an agricultural state but is not self-sufficient. ‘Unless we do something on the ground, our economy will not grow, so I started some agricultural activities’, he said.
He said that his products called ‘Green Bran’ can mainly be used for management of septic tanks, solid wastes, public toilets, animal farm wastes, dead bodies and carcasses, stagnant water, agricultural and household wastes.
Savino, who has a master’s degree in Commerce and is a self-taught microbiologist, claims to have sustainable solutions for animal farming, food and vegetable cultivation and processing, safe drinking water, organic manure making and waste management.
“When we landed in Kohima, there was a big problem, as we reside in Lerie colony where the KMC has located its solid waste management, which has lots of pollution in terms of smell and air pollution with flies. I realised that it is not environmentally friendly, so I tried a little bit, experimenting in the facility and it worked out to be very satisfactory,” he shared.
He added, “I have done a lot of improvement- the quality of the bacteria. I am not a microbiologist but through experience, in my own research, I think it is quite satisfactory”.
Savino said Green Bran is one of the groups of bacteria which he has developed in the last 15 years.
Gwizan Organics and Technologies, as of now is a family business, but its product has already won recognition by winning the first position in the “Being creative out of local waste products” competition, an event organised by Science and Technological Intervention for North East India (STINER)- Technology Facility Centre (TFC), Nagaland Centre, NU: SASRD, Medziphema in 2020.
Savino said that the product was tested at Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) waste facility in 2019 and was proven to be effective and subsequently, at Sokhriezie Lake in 2019 as well, besides testing it at public toilets.
He also added that Green Bran was also tested in the drainages at Naga Hospital Authority in Kohima (NHAK) after informing the managing director, and the result was positive.
‘Gwizan Organics and Technologies want to go organic in so many areas but we are mainly concentrating on how to control environmental pollution under the big umbrella of climate change, global warming where everyone can play small roles, but most importantly, waste management as there are lots and different kinds,’ said Savino.
While pointing out that affordability should be the core of products, he said, ‘Any technology for me, it should be less expensive, if it is too expensive, it is of no use. The users should not feel the pinch of parting with their money and of course the end result is the most important thing here.’
He said the product at first was made for self-use and not meant for mass production and utility. Yet the subject matter of global warming and waste management has become more important and Green Bran is an effective way of managing the waste. Therefore he saw the scope of the product, he shared.
“Incidentally, I happened to be the resource person of one of the seminars conducted by KMC about two years ago and a group of women from all wards of Kohima participated. I gave a talk on the product and utility and also distributed free samples. One of the women used it in her septic tank and after a week or so she happened to clean the septic tank without feeling the smell of it, which let the neighbourhood talk about it and people started looking for it, and which let me start to commercialise the product,” stated Savino.
The latest development of Green Bran was testing it in the water at a coal mine last December, Savino shared.
The water in coal mines is very hazardous containing a lot of acids, while animals, birds and vegetation cannot thrive in such localities.
“I tried my products on those waters to neutralise and it was very successful, so there are more uses of the product”, he added.
Kohima Municipal Council had also distributed Gwizan Organics and Technologies, Kohima- Green Bran in early parts of February to the Kohima municipal wards.
According to Savino, the parameters of waste management are to lead to agricultural productivity. He shared that he decomposed some waste in Kohima and turned it into manure and applied it on a wheat field, adding that those areas were ‘much better than those usual areas’.
He informed that soil samples were collected and will be submitted to the Soil laboratory for analysis. “I don’t know what would be the fate of it”, he said.
He claimed that the product was made based on the parameters of the National Green Tribunal (NGT)-- to manage the waste in an environmentally friendly way, to generate employment and lead to agricultural productivity/ vegetation growth. He also maintained that the product should be useful, cost effective and generate employment as a start up business.
The proprietor also shared to this newspaper that some local business were procuring the products on wholesale for retailing on a regular basis, while a private hospital in Kohima is taking ‘good quantity on regular basis’.
The cost of a packet weighing approx 1 kilo on wholesale cost INR 100 and the MRP of the product is INR 150 within the state. However, he shared that while ‘in pursuit to improvise the products with more expensive inputs, automatically the price of the product could also increase’.
The product is aimed to be exported to neighbouring states and considering the transportation charges and other taxes admissible, the price would also be enhanced for sale outside the state.
The product comes both in liquid and solid (powder) form and the shelf-life of the liquid form is hardly one year, while the solid form can last up to three years. Towards this, he shared that he is concentrating more on the powder form.
He advised that the product should not be exposed to direct sunlight as the UV ray will kill the bacteria, and should be kept airtight under the roof.
The results of using Green Bran, according to Savino, include odourless and enhanced life of septic tank; removal of smells from poultry, piggery etc within hours of application; cleans stagnant water bodies and removes bad smell; makes surroundings free of putrid smells; regenerates microbes, shrimps and worms in fisheries and water bodies as fish feed; keeps away rotting smell of dead animal bodies; enriches soil with required nutrients for better vegetation; checks soil leaching and repels soil pathogens while the biomass decomposed can be used as organic manure.