Waste to Treasure: Vegetable Waste Decomposition for Organic Fertiliser Production

Malaika Selasie Patel, Personal

Globally, about 1.3 billion tons of food waste is generated annually from production to consumption stage. The phenomenon is attributed to increasing population rate and consumption dynamics with implication for the quantity and forms of waste generated. While sustainable waste disposal is a problem globally, in Sub Saharan Africa, the situation is stark. In this region, waste management issues intercept with food security, agricultural production and health. In this paper, I try to integrate waste management and agriculture development through vegetable waste decomposition approach. The findings from the experiment showed that vegetable waste can be useful for agricultural production. By using vermicomposting method, selected vegetables were processed into liquid organic fertilizer. With the availability of vegetable waste in communities, the experiment can be replicated using other types of food waste. This means that, we can achieve triple developmental objectives, namely agricultural, health and environmental, from vegetable waste recycling.