218 S. GALAB, S. SUDHAKAR REDDYAND AND ISA BAUD
The horse dung from the Hyderabad race club, which has 600 horses at Malakpet, is
transported daily by a truck to the Tekron Industry at Medchal and composted and
used as manure for mushroom crops. The park service utilises leaf and flower drop-
pings for composting, reworking it in their parks (five parks surveyed). The authorities
of some of the star hotels in the city, viz. Viceroy and Green Park hotels, collect their
waste and transport it to their agricultural lands. Food waste is composted by tradi-
tional methods and used as manure.
High-income group households in rich localities in Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills of
the city are using their kitchen and garden waste for composting by traditional
methods, utilising it in their own gardens as organic manure.
10.4. URBAN-RURAL LINKAGES:REUSE OF DUMP SOLID WASTE BY FARMERS
Farmers from several villages near one of the Hyderabad dumps (Mansurabad) were
interviewed about their use of organic solid waste from the dumpsites^8. Large and
medium farmers, growing commercial and horticultural crops, used mixed solid waste
from dumpsites, together with other organic and chemical fertilizers. Farmers used the
mixed urban waste mainly on irrigated land where commercial crops are grown. The
farmers who used urban organic waste on their land reported that crop yields had
increased due to the application of urban organic waste. Benefits found were a loos-
ening of the soil, increase in soil fertility, increased weight of potatoes grown, and the
fact that flowers (chrysanthemums) became more shining and remained fresh longer.
The advantage of urban organic waste was that it worked for two crops whereas ferti-
lizer and poultry waste were effective for only one crop and could not be used as soil
conditioner.
Although many farmers have used used urban organic waste in the past their number
is decreasing (see also chapter 11). They faced problems in applying such solid waste
picked up directly from the dumpsites due to the following reasons:
- The soil became harder as a result of the application of mixed solid waste over a
period of years; - When wastes were applied on agricultural lands where crops were cultivated,
problems of pollution of soil, crop plants, ground and surface wastes emerged
gradually;
- The discussions were held with farmers from Mansanapally(115 farmers) and Chinna Gollapaly (60
farmers),the former 40 km and the latter 30 km away from the Mansurabad dump site (Reddy and
Galab, 2000).The field survey reveals that the overall proportion of farmers applying the non-segre-
gated urban organic waste is larger in the village nearer the dump site (see the Appendix to this chap-
ter, table App 10.1 and App 10.2). However, there is a clear difference in the use of urban waste
according to the size of the holdings, which may be more important than distance.