Episode 5: Using by-products to increase yields and sequester carbon

Smallholder farming is the backbone of the African economy, but productivity is well below the global average. African farmers find it difficult to make a decent living or have to expand their growing area into virgin wilderness which impacts biodiversity. One of the main reasons for this is the depletion of key nutrients in the soil that are needed to support healthy plant growth. Rural farmers in emerging African economies often pay much more than the rest of the world for their fertilizers. In this film, we look at how Safi Organics has developed a process that allows fertilizer to be produced on a village-level basis, using locally available agricultural by-products and labour. Their technology reduces the logistical cost and produces a high-quality product that sequesters large amounts of carbon and can improve farmers’ yields by up to 30%.