The organization behind the famous World Food Prize has bestowed another award to a postdoctoral researcher active in Kenya for creating a cheap and fast way to produce organic fertilizer.
Dr. Dennis Beesigamukama is a researcher at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi. A graduate of Kenyatta University, Dr. Beesigamukama is renowned for his research on yielding insects in producing inexpensive fertilizers. This technology aims to help smallholder farmers improve their yields without relying on expensive, imported chemical fertilizers.
His work using fly larvae to produce rich, potent fertilizers earned Dr. Beesigamukama the World Prize Foundation’s Borlaug Field Award. The Foundation made the announcement earlier this month.
Beesigamukama “has been named the 2024 Recipient of the Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, endowed by The Rockefeller Foundation,” the World Food Prize Foundation declared. “He is recognized for spearheading the development of novel, low-cost technologies for recycling organic waste into nutrient-rich, disease- and pest-resistant, insect-composted organic fertilizers within a fraction of the time it takes to produce other organic fertilizers.”
The Foundation estimates that Beesigamukama’s innovations have already touched the lives of over 100,000 farmers in East Africa.
A constant dilemma
A lack of basic inputs like fertilizers is a constant problem smallholder farmers face. Some governments subsidize farmers’ purchases of imported chemical fertilizers, but such schemes are relatively rare. Usually, farmers are on their own. Farmers may be able to fertilize their fields in some years. However, that changes when fertilizer prices spike due to unforeseen circumstances or international upheaval, like the ongoing war in Ukraine.
According to his bio, Beesigamukama originally hails from Uganda, where he grew up on a farm. That’s how he became intimately familiar with farmers’ challenges in managing soil health. Left unattended, soils will degrade over time, becoming less capable of nurturing the crops that farmers and communities depend upon. While growing up on the farm, Beesigamukama became curious about soil health and soil science. Later in life, he decided to focus on soil health during his formal education in agricultural sciences. Before pursuing his doctorate, Beesigamukama earned a B.Sc. in agricultural land use and an M.Sc. in soil science at Makerere University in Kampala.
He started his Ph.D. work at Kenyatta University in 2017 and launched his work with ICIPE around the same time. With ICIPE, Beesigamukama has been busy developing “insect-based compost for sustainable soil health management and crop productivity,” the Foundation’s announcement explained, specifically the larvae of the black soldier fly, an insect many farmers grow to be used as fodder for livestock. Beesigamukama finished his Ph.D. in 2021.
Starting a movement
Beesigamukama’s research has since become a game changer, so influential that he’s converted fertilizer companies in Kenya like Safi Organics Ltd. to his way of doing things, the Foundation said in explaining its decision to award him.
“He used black soldier fly larvae, a common edible insect raised for animal feed, to recycle organic waste into nutrient-rich organic fertilizer made from the insects’ frass, or shed skins and feces,” the announcement said. “By doing this, he expedited the natural composting process to yield nutrient-rich fertilizer in just five weeks, in contrast to the usual methods, which require six months.”
That’s not all.
In addition to finding a way to make organic fertilizer cheaply and quickly, Dr. Beesigamukama discovered that his fertilizer production method yields a more nutrient-rich product that helps farmers produce more nutritious crops. These insect-enabled fertilizers also appear to boost farmers’ yields, the Foundation added. “In comparison to commercial fertilizers, he showed insect-based fertilizers could significantly increase yields of major grain and vegetable crops, including maize, amaranth, tomatoes, and beans.”
So congratulations are in order to Dr. Dennis Beesigamukama. The Field Award, given to exceptional agricultural scientists under the age of 40, comes with a $10,000 cash prize.
— Grow Further
Photo credit: World Food Prize Foundation.
