2024-10-14 22:23:00
Côte d’Ivoire wants to be the African champion of the circular economy – the West African country is hosting the EcoCir International Forum in Abidjan from October 15 to 18, 2024. Objective, among other things: to raise awareness among economic actors to reinject the waste in the production cycle. Example with the autonomous district of the Ivorian economic capital which is carrying out a project with the company BioAni. Since the beginning of the year, the agricultural start-up has been marketing a natural fertilizer produced with leftover fruit and vegetables collected from markets and the help of black soldier flies.
From our correspondent in Abidjan,
Two centimeters long, black wings and an appetite for rotten vegetables, the black soldier fly is “ the architect of the agricultural revolution ”, according to BioAni. Behind the slogan, a building: a former battery chicken farm in the commune of Abobo (north of Abidjan), transformed into a farm for these insects. In the hangar, 300,000 black soldier flies buzz and breed under four mosquito nets. “ We call them aviaries “, corrects Fatoumatou Fofana, BioAni’s entomologist. “ Inside there are nesting boxes above which we have placed “bait” [de déchets verts]. The goal is to get them to lay “, she explains.
Each insect lays 500 to 600 eggs during their ten days of life. These eggs are then placed in tanks, a sort of “incubator” where they will hatch. “ It’s a bit like our larvae nursery », s’amuse Fatoumatou.
Up to two tonnes of food waste collected every day
The “agricultural revolution” is not a gala dinner; the larvae are responsible for devouring unsold fruits and vegetables collected from surrounding markets with the help of transporters. Cabbages, tomatoes, or even moldy bananas. Up to two tonnes of food waste will be crushed with leftover cereals in machines. low-tech entirely designed and assembled in Ivory Coast.
The viscous, greenish and smelly mixture is then poured into pits approximately three square meters and thirty centimeters deep. There are around forty of them under the roof of the hangar. There, the mature larvae are then added. “ They will take a week to digest everythingexplains Fatoumatou Fofana. And then, we will sift: the droppings which serve as fertilizer, and the fattened larvae. »
Frass but no glitter
These are therefore BioAni’s two flagship products: “frass“, the droppings of maggots which serves as a natural fertilizer. A black sand that looks like ground coffee from a distance. The farm sells it at 200 CFA francs per kilo (0.3 euros), packaged in 35 kilo bags. BioAni also markets a version mixed with compost, “fertifrass” which is more easily handled by farmers.
The other product is the larvae themselves – food dedicated to poultry and pig breeders – but not only: dried, and emptied of their oil, they can be used by fish breeders, and thus meet the needs of the Ivorian fish farming sector, according to BioAni. The company estimates that the country imports almost 730,000 tonnes of fish, worth 770 million euros in total. Concretely, one ton of food waste will produce around 250 kilos of “frass” and 200 kilos of larvae.
Problem: the company has not yet managed to convince Ivorian farmers to adopt its products. “ They prefer chemicals », According to Togba Koné, the company’s sales manager. “ Suppliers sell them cheaper compared to frass, plus these products are available almost everywhere, he emphasizes. We must convince farmers to use frass, by carrying out tests on test plots and explaining the benefits of natural fertilizer on agriculture. »
Arthur de Dinechin, the founder of the startup, agrees: “ What we sell is produced locally, with food waste that can be found everywhere, and in addition, frass will ultimately allow the soil to be regenerated unlike chemical products which are imported, used intensively and which result in land impoverishment. » Still, nine months after its commercial launch, BioAni is not yet profitable.
« Improving our food sovereignty »
Another problem: the limited capacity of BioAni. For the moment, the start-up can only transform two tonnes of food waste per day, if the machines don’t break down. However, Abidjan alone generates 4,000 tonnes of food waste per day according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Not enough to cool the autonomous district of Abidjan at the origin of the project with its Institute for the Circular Economy (Léca). In his office near the Henri Konan-Bédié bridge, the project monitoring manager, Jean-François Kakou Aka, recalls the logic: “ At the time of the Covid pandemic, We have noted Abidjan’s problems in sourcing food – this project helps improve our food sovereignty. » Added to this are the region’s objectives, listed by Jean-François Kakou Aka: “ Improve cleanliness and sanitation, by removing waste from markets and using products that are less dangerous to health; promote urban agriculture; and also create jobs for young people. »
The stated desire of the autonomous district of Abidjan and Iéca is to replicate the BioAni pilot project, in particular the waste transformation units with larvae, in the 13 municipalities of the Ivorian economic capital.
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