When sugarcane is harvested, its bagasse i.e., the fibrous residue, is usually treated as waste. But for many smallholder farmers in Ghana’s Volta Region, that “waste” has become a seed of change. 

An Ashesi alumni team (led by Audrey S-Darko ’19) won grant funding to transform bagasse into a bio-compost fertilizer, offering farmers an affordable, eco-friendly alternative to chemical fertilizers. The result? Soil health improved, crop losses declined, yields rose and most importantly, farmer incomes increased. 

This project speaks directly to SDG 2, Indicator 2.3.2 (average income of small-scale producers). By lowering input costs and boosting output, farmers’ livelihoods gain real traction. More than that, the initiative fosters sustainability, circularity, and local innovation. 

Through our role in the Nkabom Agrifood Collaborative, Ashesi is scaling such innovations with support from McGill University and south-south partners including the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Association of Ghana Industries and powered by the MasterCard Foundation. Nkabom connects students, researchers, institutions, and rural communities to co-develop agrifood solutions from training in sustainable practices to supporting youth-led agribusinesses. In this way, the bio-compost project is not a standalone example, but one thread in a broader tapestry of food security and agricultural resilience across the region.