Earthworms may not be the cutest of creatures and certainly not too many people are going to want to cuddle up to them, but to Associate Professor Somchai Chantsavang, PhD, a lecturer at the Department of Animal Science, at Kasetsat University's Faculty of Agriculture, they are some of the most valuable and useful species on the planet.
Over the past four years, he and his earthworms have brought a better quality of life to some 1,600 agriculturists around the country and he's counting on these wonderful wiggly creatures doing even more in the future.
Somchai was one of the first in Thailand to use the earthworm to produce fertiliser and dispose of waste, and he's the only researcher to have gathered five species of earthworms from different parts of the world with the best capacity to produce fertiliser. That might sound easy but it meant discovering how to feed the foreign species effectively in a tropical climate to ensure the richest soil returns.
Rather than joining up with a private company to make money from his bio-fertiliser farms, Somchai instead passed on his knowledge to the country's agriculturists.
Since 2006, he's been running short training courses for 1,600 agriculturists to explain how to feed the earthworms so they'll produce the quantities of bio-fertiliser needed. He's also given them "studs" from all five types of earthworms to create their own vermicompost farms.
"I turned down an offer from a company that was offering me a partnership in the bio-fertiliser business, even though I would have made a lot of money. As a lecturer, I'm proud that I can use my research to help farmers," he says.
"I'm happy too that that Thai agriculturists are able to earn a decent living from my earthworm research and also that the earthworms can help protect the environment as they dispose of wastes and produce organic fertiliser."
Somchai made the news four years ago when his project was first launched and since then, the public has shown some enthusiasm for natural fertiliser and the creatures that produce it.
Vermicompost, as it's known, is being used by many more farmers and gardeners today, with leftover food and vegetables and even coffee grounds fed to the worms to produce fertiliser.
Foreigners too have shown interest with agriculturists from Laos, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, China and even Mexico flying in to attend courses at KU.
Today, there are some 50 earthworm farms across the country, all of them run by agriculturists trained by Somchai.
An amazing success yet only a few years ago, the quiet researcher was being constantly criticised by his peers, who were worried that earthworms from different continents - considered as alien species - would harm the country's ecology.
Somchai has been applying his knowledge to agricultural problems for more than 30 years.
He was among the first researchers in Thailand to study biogas and effective microorganisms and, as with the worms, disseminated his findings to others.
Somchai has combined vermicompost, biogas and EM technology to help owners of pig and chicken farms handle problems of bad odours and flies, and also introduced biogas to generate electricity for the farms, an initiative that can help reduce electricity bills by as much as 80 per cent. "It's really nice to be able to lend a helping hand in such situations. I was happy to be able to assist the owner of a pig farm faced with a lawsuit filed by local villagers. Together, we were able to resolve the conflict," he says.
The lecturer is scheduled to retire this year but that doesn't mean he'll be stopping work. He recently discovered anti-bacteria properties and a flower-like smell in earthworms so he and his colleagues are now trying to find how to make use of them.
"And I plan to go to China and introduce vermicompost to a new and bigger market," he says with a smile.
Yesterday, KU hosted a special event to honour Somchai's hard work over the years and many of his current and former students took the chance to show their gratitude towards him, among them the agriculturists now producing their own vermicompost.
"Many researchers compete just for the sake of publishing in international journals because they think that this will lead them to higher and better positions. I don't agree with that. To me, it's useless if your research findings don't benefit the local people. You can conduct research and work towards lofty positions by studying local things as well. Local people should always benefit from your studies," says Somchai.