Josiane Nikiema/IWMI

Commendation from the government of Ghana on IWMI and WLE's work on organic fertilizers

In 2014, the Ghanaian municipality of Tema and Jekora Ventures Ltd, a local private waste management company, signed a Private Public Partnership (PPP) agreement to implement the first commercial co-composting plant in West Africa. The goal was to transform fecal sludge and organic municipal waste into a soil ameliorant or fertilizer, branded as “Fortifer.”

Fortifier label, front and back.

The contribution of the public sector consisted of 1ha of land, valued at about US$75,000, while the private sector committed a minimum of US$50,000 to cover operation, maintenance and marketing costs during the estimated 3-year business start-up period.

IWMI initiated and backstopped the process with market analyses, technology development and transfer.

In June of 2016, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) of Ghana commended IWMI West Africa for initiatives undertaken towards ensuring the availability of high quality compost materials in the country. The letter, signed by the Director for Crop Services, also expressed appreciation for the technical support and contributions made when the Ministry was considering incorporating organic fertilizer as part of the Government of Ghana's Fertilizer Subsidy Program.

In July 2016, the Ghanaian Ministry of Food and Agriculture approved the commercial production of “Fortifier” after a period of extensive field trials. In the same year, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development of Ghana (MLGRD) committed US$155,889 to support the capital investment for “Fortifer” pelletization.

“It makes us proud to know that we were able to support the Ghanaian Government in its decision to include waste based composts in the fertilizer subsidy program, which normally only includes chemical fertilizers,” said Pay Drechsel, theme leader for WLE’s Resource Recovery and Reuse work. “This is a further milestone of IWMI’s policy support in Ghana, which also included the development of the National Irrigation Policy.”

Read the full letter: