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By Jensen Njagi
What is CBE?
The Circular Bio-nutrient Economy (CBE) is a subset of the Circular Economy (CE) that adopts the principles of designing out waste and pollution (Midega, 2022). It allows for the transformation of organic waste into valuable products such as organic fertilizers and animal feeds . This helps in the recovery of nutrients by utilizing waste streams for reuse in Agriculture (Duncan & Gulbahar).
Illustration of circular nutrient elemental flow.
The right place at the right time with the right people.
Professor Charles Midega, Director of Poverty and Health Integrated Solutions (PHIS) - a national research and development organization that aims to improve health by addressing proximal causes of poor health - and Professor. Rebecca Nelson, Professor, Department of Global Development at Cornell University, and I set out to visit Manor House Agricultural Centre (MHAC) in Kitale, Western Kenya - a farmer training centre for organic agriculture. The three of us have been working at the nexus of public health and agriculture and are part of the Circular Bio-nutrient Economy Network (CBEN) - an interdisciplinary network of CBE practitioners from East Africa and beyond (CBEN). CBEN aims to establish collective research, policy, and operational frameworks to support the regional value chains recovering nutrients from Organic Underutilized Resources (OURs) such as crop residues, market waste, livestock, and human excreta, and turn them into organic fertilizers, animal feeds, and soil amendments that farmers in East Africa can use to enhance soil health, livelihoods, and food security (CBEN).
Jenson together with Professors Charles Midega Rebecca Nelson
To Collaborate.
This was my first field visit of my summer internship and I was excited, and anxious about how I could channel my energy, skills, and ideas to best contribute to the CBE projects and opportunities that lay ahead. This visit aimed to seek an opportunity for us to collaborate further with the Farmer Research Network in the region, and the Sustainable Organic Farming and Development Institute (SOFDI) - an NGO based in the region that works to improve livelihoods through sustainable agriculture and rural development. Our discussion was about how we could partner to catalyze the adoption of resource-recovery in their agricultural practices to utilize various waste streams available in the region to address soil nutrient depletion. This was followed by logistical plans for execution such as sourcing for appropriate tools and designs for resource recovery and overcoming the anticipated barriers such as the stigma associated with animal and human excreta.
At Manor House to meet the FRN and the SOFDI team.
To Network.
After the meeting, some of the farmers gave us a tour around the centre while showcasing some of the projects in progress. We were very impressed by the farmers’ innovative ideas for leveraging CBE principles to promote agroecology and seize business opportunities that exist within agricultural value chains. This spanned from using sacks and worn-out car tires for raised bed gardening to the tactical collection of rabbit urine for use as foliar fertilizer. From utilizing vermiculture to valorise organic waste to growing Azolla for use as poultry feed. I learned a lot, and I still am , so stay tuned; this is just the beginning.
Top: Jenson posing with Nicodemus and his rabbits, Nicodemus’ tactical collection of rabbit urine.
Middle: raised bed gardening. Middle vermiculture (redworms).
Bottom : Azolla
References :
Charles A. O. Midega, “Opportunities for Circular Bio-nutrient Economy in Kenya: Sanitation and Waste Stream Characterization,” Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems 7, no. 1 (2022): e20034, https://doi.org/10.1002/uar2.20034.
Duncan Gromko and Gulbahar Abdurasulova, “Climate Change Mitigation and Food Loss and Waste Reduction: Exploring the Business Case” (Wageningen, the Netherlands: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), 2019), www.ccafs.cgiar.org.
Circular Bio-nutrient Economy Network,” CBEN, accessed June 29, 2024, https://www.cbenetworks.org/about-the-network.
“Circular Bio-nutrient Economy Network.” www.cbenetworks.org.
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