PRODUCTION OF ORGANIC FERTILISERS AS A WAY TO IMPROVE ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF SMALL FARMS

Russian agriculture is traditionally focused on large agro-industrial enterprises. However, currently, much is done to support small and medium-sized agri-businesses. By 2019, the share of peasant and small private farms reached 84% of the total output in certain agricultural sectors. Small businesses find it difficult to compete with large-scale farms due to the higher self-cost of their products. Organic production is a way to improve their market competitiveness. Aerobic solid-state fermentation of livestock waste makes it possible to produce high-quality organic fertilisers, which can be applied in organic farming and marketed as a standalone product. Such waste processing is an affordable tool for small farms to reduce their negative impact on the environment. The feasibility study of the aerobic fermentation technology of solid organic waste in a drum bio-fermenter was conducted for a small private farm in the Chuvash Republic, Volga Federal District of Russia, with the recyclable material being a mixture of animal and poultry manure, chopped grass, sawdust and peat, and fermenter's productivity being 1 m(3).day(-1). The study resulted in the following economic indicators: the capital costs of 21,110 EUR; the unit capital costs of 83 EUR.t(-1); the operating costs of 14,585 EUR.year(-1); the unit operating costs of 57 EUR.t(-1).year(-1); the labour inputs of 1.14 h-hour.t(-1); and the energy inputs to produce the fertiliser of 27.0 kW.t(-1). With the ready organic fertiliser's selling price being 144 EUR.t(-1), the payback period of this technology will be 1.53 years (or 18.5 months). Introduction of aerobic fermentation will reduce the nutrients loss by 0.69 t N year(-1) and 0.08 t P year(-1) against the passive composting.