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SAUK: organic fertilizers for small-scale farmers in the Kivu Region
- Completed project
The Congolese SME SAUK has developed a model for the production, distribution and delivery of organic fertilizers in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in order to increase productivity, farm income and promote sustainable agriculture. SAUK also provides targeted training to ensure optimal adoption and use by farms.
Project ported by:
Context
The Kivu region in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is home to more than 15% of the country’s population, 80% of whom depend on agriculture for their livelihood. The region is highly dependent on subsistence agriculture while being very vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
In this highly constrained context, the lack of access to efficient agricultural production practices, as well as to fertilizers whose application methods are mastered, could have negative impacts on the populations and on food security, as well as lead to issues of an ecological nature of democratic governance.
Innovation
A social enterprise launched in 2017, SAUK proposes to introduce a local model of organic fertilizer production, based on 3 pillars:
- a mini-factory for the transformation of urban waste into biofertilizers,
- accessibility of these fertilizers to family farms in the villages of Kivu,
- training and support program on the associated agricultural techniques.
The beneficiaries of the intervention will be small-scale farmers in the South Kivu region and the households that depend on them, who are currently struggling to make a living from fields whose productivity does not allow them to generate more than €1.7 per day. The project is lead in partnership with the Evangelical University in Africa (UEA), whose laboratories will be used for fertilizer production and soil studies.
Results and lessons learned
The SAUK project established a mini-factory in Mudaka producing 10 tonnes of organic fertiliser per week from biodegradable waste. 87 tonnes were delivered to farmers within a production-use-delivery cycle designed to stimulate soil biodiversity. 144 farmers were trained as model practitioners and 322 others were sensitized to fertilisation techniques, local fertiliser production, and the importance of organic matter. Compost analyses showed that the use of bacterial strains accelerates decomposition while maintaining acceptable levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon. Maize and tomato crops treated with the fertiliser showed significant improvements.
Two collection points were set up to recover urban biodegradable waste. The valorisation of waste through fertiliser production contributed to urban sanitation and transformed a problem into a social and economic opportunity.
The project mobilised the local municipality, university laboratories and civil society, fostering local ownership and scientific expertise. It shed light on the complexity of both the waste collection and management phases on the one hand, and the marketing and distribution of the fertilisers produced on the other, given the particularly diverse range of stakeholders active in the sector.
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