Author(s)

G Danso, S C Fialor & P Drechsel

Abstract

Farmers' perception and willingness to pay for urban waste compost in Ghana G. Danso1, S. C. Fialor2 and P. Drechse13 1AGROPOLIS awardee c/o KNUST and IWMI, Kumasi, Ghana 2Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana 3International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Kumasi, Ghana Abstract Major challenges arising from rapid urban growth in Africa concern urban food security and municipal waste management. Both challenges can be connected through waste composting. In fact, due to the high price of industrial fertilizer, organic waste stream products receive increasing attention as soil ameliorant especially for urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA). The research work presented here aimed at assessing the perception and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for composted solid and faecal waste among UPA farmers and other potential compost consumers in and around three major Ghanaian cities. Participatory rural appraisal and contingent valuation methods were used. Results indicate that majority of the farmers have positive perceptions and are willing to use and pay for compost, often without related prior experience. Large variations in the WTP were recorded between farmers with and without compost experience, different farming systems, urban versus peri-urban farmers, as well as between different cities. Reasons for low WTP were in general more economic and technical than cultural despite the use of night soil in the composting process. Differences resulted were related, for example, to ability-to-pay and the availability of alternative soil inputs, especially with regard to cheap poultry manure around Kumasi. Farmers recommended that there should be samples for field trials and also education on the use of the product. Besides certain farmer groups, landscape designers/real estate developers could appeared to be a significant potential compost consumer group to be considered in municipal compost projects.

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