DeCo! Sustainable Farming – Ghana

DeCo! is a decentralized social business that produces fertilizer out of compost for smallholder farmers in northern Ghana. From diverse plant and animal waste inputs, DeCo! produces and sells high-quality organic fertilizer. The fertilizer improves the long-term soil fertility in a region burdened by poor soil quality, guaranteeing sustainable yields while recycling waste that would otherwise contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

Fast facts:

Up to 600 tonnes of fertilizer produced in 2011;
Up to 4,000 local farmer customers;
Up to 1.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent saved per ton of organic fertilizer.

The problem

Soils in the semiarid savanna regions of Ghana are extremely degraded, with low organic matter content, and remain mostly infertile. Under these conditions, agricultural yield and productivity are also low – despite the use of chemical fertilizers. Regardless, most inhabitants of the region are small-scale farmers. Adverse soil conditions adversely affect household income and food security.

The solution

DeCo! produces organic fertilizer through a decentralized, low-tech windrow composting system. It composts municipal waste collected from people in villages – and other agro-waste, such as rice husks, shea butter waste, farm residual biomass, poultry manure and neem leaves. This is then sold to local smallholders. The application of organic fertilizer improves the soil’s capacity to hold water and nutrients. It improves plant growth capacity by improving the soil’s fertility, organic matter content, and structure.

Helping the planet

DeCo! composts organic waste that would otherwise be discarded in landfills to be burned and release greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gas emissions are also avoided by cutting the use of chemical fertilizer. Sustainable waste management helps reduce environmental pollution.

Helping people

Feedback from farmers confirm an increase in crop yields, along with an immense improvement in soil structure and long-term soil fertility. Since the fertilizer enables farmers to harvest higher yields from their land, it makes farming more profitable, which creates jobs in local communities and improves food security. DeCo! also employs local people who have no other employment alternatives in the dry season.

Spillover effect

Collection and sorting of waste encourages scalability, adaptability, and local participation. Other countries with similar soil conditions such as Burkina Faso, Senegal, Chad, and northern Kenya could also benefit from a similar model. Burkina Faso, which borders Ghana, could begin by receiving a reliable supply of organic fertilizer in the medium- to short-term, and then replicate production to benefit people there.