Conservation of the night soil composting and the importance of organic farming in high altitude regions : A review

Abstract

Human civilization took an advanced step with the advent of agriculture. For long agricultural operations were dependent on natural inputs, but with the onset of Industrial Revolution chemical fertilizers were developed to fulfil the demands of rapidly growing human population. The chemical inputs that dramatically increased the agricultural yield, however, brought along some detrimental side effects that harm both the environment and the farmer. Consequently, there's a gradual reversal towards using natural inputs in the form of organic farming. The high altitude regions of Himachal Pradesh viz. Lahaul-Spiti had been practicing organic farming using traditional night soil compost. However, due to modernization and easy availability of subsidized chemical fertilizers, this practice is facing steady decline. Usage of chemical inputs puts the already fragile environment of the region at risk of pollution. Thus, to save the region from pollution via chemicals and preserve the traditional practice of Night Soil Composting, we are trying to improve the hygiene of the winter dry toilet. Accelerated degradation leading to minimizing the foul odor to negligible level have been obtained with implementation of microbial intervention for rapid decomposition using cold tolerant bacteria with efficient hydrolytic enzymatic activity.