Cutting Edge Research in Sustainable Agriculture
Bountiful Gardeners for Africa aims to improve food sovereignty, closed loop nutrient cycling and improve personal and environmental health through research combining Urine Diverting Dry Toilets and GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming.
The Need
We recognize the contribution of the 600 million smallholder (<2 hectares) farmers around the world that supply 30-34% of the food supply (Ricciardi, 2018). This food contribution is even higher at 80% of the gross food production in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and Asia (Paloma, 2020). FAO data indicate that a large portion (70%) of all farms is less than 1 hectare. Small holder food production contributes to a reduction in malnutrition and undernutrition, reduces poverty, and provides economic, social and political stability to families, communities, countries and regions (Kapari, 2023). Smallholders have been the backbone of 10,000 years of agricultural evolution yet face unprecedented challenges as they often work small parcels of land with less-than-optimal soil quality. These challenges also present the opportunity to produce food more sustainably by reducing or eliminating energy consuming and expensive mechanization and developing enhanced closed-loop fertility. Even organic fertilizers are often too expensive or unavailable to many small farmers. This project seeks to assist small growers in the next steps of closed loop sustainable soil fertility by safely and effectively utilizing free and available human derived fertilizers to improve yields, soil fertility and farm economics and increase community health and resilience.
Kapari M, Hlophe-Ginindza S, Nhamo L and Mpandeli S. 2023. Contribution of smallholderfarmers to food security and opportunities for resilient farming systems. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 7:1149854. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1149854
Paloma, S. G., Riesgo, L., Louhichi, K. Editors 2020 The Role of Smallholder Farms in Food and Nutrition Security, Springer ISBN 978-3-030-42147-2 ISBN 978-3-030-42148-9(eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42148-9
Ricciardi, V., Ramankutty, N., Mehrabi, Z., Jarvis, L., Chookolingo, B., 2018 How much of the world’s food do smallholders produce? Global Food Security 17 64-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2018.05.002
Closing Yield Gaps with Human-Derived Fertilizers
Our Project
The Kenyan Trans-Nzoia County Ministry of Health and the Kenyan Trans-Nzoia County Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries have both approved this project: A 4-year test conducted by Bountiful Gardeners of Africa (BGA) to see if it is possible to use on-site urine-diverting dry toilets (UDDT) and a specially designed protocol for secondary composting to safely collect human waste, remove pathogens that may be present, and safely use the resulting fertilizer to build soil and grow healthy crops using the GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming method.
In this project , one UDDT is placed at each test site, and the families at the sites and their communities are taught to use them correctly and hygienically. The toilets separate urine and feces, which require different processing methods to maximize their fertilizer value and safe use. Through a specifically designed protocol for secondary composting that requires careful monitoring, the waste products undergo sufficient temperatures and times, both before and after turning, to kill pathogens, making them safe to use in an agricultural setting. Temperatures are monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure that secondary composting temperatures exceed 60°C for at least 7 consecutive days or 55°C for at least 14 consecutive days both before and after turning (WHO 2006 Guidelines for the safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater Vol.4 Excreta and Greywater Use in Agriculture. World Health Organization available online at http://www.who.int/watersanitation_health/publications/gsuweg4/en/ ). Pre- and post-secondary composting laboratory tests for the presence of any potential pathogens are conducted and the results are reviewed by BGA Co-Founder Wamalwa Murefu, Project Advisors John Beeby and Steve Moore, and Ecology Action Director John Jeavons. If temperature and time requirements are not met, remedial procedures are initiated so that the correct temperatures and time are achieved. Authorities from the Kenyan Ministries of Health and Agriculture, as well as community leaders, periodically visit the test sites to maintain quality control. The resulting safe, nutrient-rich, materials are then used to grow food and compost crops on-site under GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming procedures as outlined at www.growbiointensive.org. As of August 2024, we are in the 8th month of the second year of the test, and anticipate that the results will be available in the year following the close of the test period, after review and analysis by all responsible parties.
The main aspects of BGA's research include:
- Using GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming to design, demonstrate and research complete diet production (30+ vitamins, minerals, calories, protein and macronutrients) in the smallest space possible for greater food sovereignty.
- Using carbon crops to compost dry toilet vault material so that it is safe to use as a human derived fertilizer (HDF). Composted materials must achieve temperatures greater than 60C for at least 7 consecutive days or greater than 55C for at least 14 consecutive days.
- Using urine (stored and applied directly) and composted vault material to close the fertility loop, increase yields, improve soil fertility, and save money
- Training survey data is collected and analyzed to improve information transfer and overcome cultural and gender adoption barriers (see Training or Services).
Our research continues to develop due to the efforts of Wamalwa Murefu, Margaret Silali, John Beeby, Steve Moore, and many more who are crucial to our efforts.
What Are Urine Diverting Dry Toilets and Human Derived Fertilizers?
Urine Diverting Dry Toilets (UDDTs) capture human waste to provide safe and affordable sanitation. UDDTs can act as the first step toward the safe production of human derived fertilizers, which can be used in smallholder farms to increase yields without chemical-based fertilizer that can be expensive, difficult to attain, and unsustainable.
The UDDTs used in our project have been approved by the Kenyan Saboti Sub-County Disease Surveillance Officer (see design on left, orignally created by Ligia Espinoza, a GROW BIOINTENSIVE® farmer from Costa Rica).
Human waste strategically combined with GROW BIOINTENSIVE®'s carbon production capacity (i.e. maize, sorghum, amaranth) produces hygienically and environmentally safe and effective closed-loop nutrient cycling.
What is GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming (GB)?
GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming has a long and well-proven history as an effective and sustainable small scale food production method in Kenya and throughout the world. GB’s core principle is to grow the soil sustainably using simple but sophisticated methods that require few resources. GB synergistically utilizes eight sound practices to produce food and improve the soil, including deep soil quality, carbon farming (growing compost crops), efficient and effective composting, integrated diet design, intensive planting, functional diversity of crops, open pollinated seeds, and whole system sustainability. One of BGA's programs is training smallholder farms on this strategy to reduce food insecurity and increase production of nutritious foods.
The GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Sustainable Mini-Farming Method (GB) developed by Ecology Action is an established agricultural system which has been shown to improve soil fertility at rates significantly faster than occurs in nature and to greatly enhance productivity for small-scale farmers, with little-to-no cost once established.
However, to create true, closed-loop sustainability on a farm, an initial application of nutrients is usually necessary to bring them to sufficient levels and create a fertile soil; then, to maintain that fertility, the nutrients that are taken out of the soil in the form of food and biomass must be returned somehow. The site-grown compost crops that are integral to the GB method provide most of the carbon and much of the nitrogen necessary to maintain and grow soil fertility over time. But the food that is eaten carries away important minerals that are not replaced unless periodic adjustments are made with imported soil amendments. As soil amendments become more expensive and less available, small farmers are left with carbon-rich, but mineral-depleted soils, which can reduce yields and food quality.
A vital piece of this sustainability puzzle is integrating the safe and sanitary use of on-site human waste recycling to return the extracted minerals to the soil so that small-scale farmers can continue to produce abundant, healthy, nutritious, balanced diets for themselves and their communities, indefinitely, without having to purchase expensive fertilizers. Because there is a lack of information about how to safely process and use human waste as fertilizer, there is an understandable reluctance to pursue this process on most farms. Establishing, testing and demonstrating the safety, efficacy, and sustainable productivity of this resource using appropriate technology will decrease farm costs, improve soil fertility, food security and community health worldwide. In addition, it will help conserve the resources and ecosystems that are depleted through extractive mining, processing and transportation of soil amendments and fossil fuels.
Supporting Peer-Reviewed Studies
WHO 2006 Guidelines for the safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater Vol.4 Excreta and Greywater Use in Agriculture. World Health Organization available online at http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/gsuweg4/en/
Cairncross S and Feachem RG (1993). Reprinted, 1999. Environmental Health Engineering in the Tropics: An Introductory Text, Second Edition. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons. https://files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/learn/whyvol/masters/theses/Engineering/Mehlj.pdf
Bekaddour, S., Ait-Mouhrb, N., Hartani, T. 2021 Re-emergence of Dry Toilets and Fecal Nutrient Reuse in M’zab cCities. JOurnal of Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Development Vol. 11 No.6. p.983993 https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2021.115
CDC. 2021 Handling Human Waste or Sewage. https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/emergency/sanitation-wastewater/workers_handlingwaste.html(retrieved 10/6/2022)
Govers, L. P., Devuyst, O. 2022 Urine from waste tro fertilizer. Kidney International - Nephrology Digest 102 pg. 1206-1208 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.kint.2022.08.018
Heinonen-Tanski, H., van Wijk-Sijbesma, C., 2004. Human Excreta for Plant Production. Bioresource Technology 96(2005) 403-411 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2003.10.036
Johansson, M. 2000 Urine separation- closing the nutrient cycle. Final Report, Stockholm: Stockholm Vatten, Stockholmahem & HSB National Federation.
Krause, |A., Hafner, F., Augustin, F., Udert, K. M. 2012 Qualitative Risk Analysis for Contents of Dry Toilets Used to Produce Novel Recycling Fertilizers. Circular Economy and Sustainability 3:1107-1146 Https://doi.org/10.1007s43515-021-00068-
Magri, M. E., Phillippi, L. S., Vinneras, B. 2013 Inactivation of Pathogens in Feces by Desiccation and Urea Treatment for Application in Urine-Diverting Dry Toilets. Applied and Environmental Microbiology April Vol. 79 #7 p. 2156-2163 https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.03920-12
Moya, B., Parker, A., Sakrabani, R., Mesa, B., 2019. Evaluating the Efficacy of Fertilizers Derived from Human Excreta in Agriculture and Their Perception in Antananarivo, Madagascar Waste Biomass Valor, 10:941–952. DOI 10.1007/s12649-017-0113-9
Naughton, C., Orner, K., Stenstrom, T. and Mihelcic, J.R. 2019. Composting and Dry Desiccating Toilets (Latrines). In: J.B. Rose and B. Jiménez-Cisneros, (eds) Global Water Pathogen Project. http://www.waterpathogens.org (J.R. Mihelcic and M.E.
Verbyla) (eds) Part 4 Management of Risk from Excreta and Wastewater) http://www.waterpathogens.org/book/composting-and-dry-desiccating-toilets Michigan State University, E. Lansing, MI, UNESCO. https://doi.org/10.14321/waterpathogens.57
Redlinger, T., Graham, J., Corella-Barud, V., Avita, R. 2001 Survival of Fecal Coliforms in Dry-Composting Toilets Applied and Environmental Microbiology 67:9 p 4036-4040 https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.67.9.4036-4040.2001
Richert, A., Ganache, R., Jonsson, H., Stenstrom, T_A., Dagerskog, L. 2010 Practical Guidance on the use of Urine in Crop Production, Stockholm Environmental Institute pg. 54 ISBN 978-91-86125-21-9
Rose, C., Parker, A., Jefferson, B., Cartmell, E. 2015, The Characterization of feces and Urine: A review of the literature to inform advanced treatment technology. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology. 45:17, 1827-1879. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10643389.2014.1000761