CGE advises farmers on alternative fertilizer

The Centre for Global Eco-Innovation (CGE) Nigeria / ACTUATE on Monday advised farmers in Edo and other parts of the country to adopt the use of digestate as a viable alternative fertilizer.

The centre’s president and team leader, Professor Lawrence Ezemonye, ​​made the call during a workshop/stakeholder engagement for smallholder farmers and students on resource recovery.

Represented by Professor Christopher Emokaro, Ezemonye noted that the ACTUATE project recognizes the importance of farmers.

He added that the workshop was held to introduce farmers to the use of technology to make fertilizer from waste.

Ezemonye said technology remains a credible option for waste management.

He noted that the centre, located at the University of Benin, was working in collaboration with the University of Lancaster, UK and the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), the sponsors of the ACTUATE project.

Ezemonye said that ACTUATE’s main goal is to build functional anaerobic digestion demonstration facilities in Ghana and Nigeria to process organic waste.

“To generate energy and for the resulting digestate to be used as a sustainable soil conditioner/fertilizer.

“The training workshop is an achievement of one of the main mandates of the ACTUATE project to work with stakeholders to highlight technology as a credible option for waste management,” he said.

Ezemonye said the workshop highlighted the importance of universities as strategic engines of the economy and development in any region.

He further said that the workshop was necessary to stimulate the interest of farmers and students in bioenergy technology to adopt the use of digestates.

The Nigerian News Agency reports that the workshop featured presentations by Ms Valerie Edosa, soil scientist and member of the UNIBEN ACTUATE team.

Mr Mike Ajieh, a member of the UNIBEN ACTUATE team, gave a presentation on the process of bio-digestion and digestate production.

NAN also reports that participants in the stakeholder workshop included smallholder farmers and students from UNIBEN’s faculties of agriculture and engineering. (NOPE)