Vermi-Farm Initiative

Championing an integrated waste management to address the triple challenge on environment pollution, climate change and sustainable farming.

We promote a circular economy through vermicomposting. We collect waste, do the sorting, then sell the inorganic waste and e-waste to Takataka solutions and WEEE Centre respectively. For the organic waste we feed to earthworms that consume and produce organic fertilizer which is rich in nutrients. It is environmentally friendly, increases crop yields and reduces cost of production since it is relatively cheaper than the synthetic fertilizers in the Kenyan market in the long term.

We would like to launch a digital platform that will help us in managing the waste cycle from generation to sorting, disposal and finally collection from our beneficiaries. This is to be achieved through integration of smart bins and launching of mobile applications to help in tracking of waste disposal hubs alongside promotions, selling and awarding of incentives.

We cut the amount of waste being poorly disposed by collecting organic waste for recycling. This is a major problem to the environment in the Nairobi metropolitan area. Whereas the licensed waste collection company collects 3 tons of waste on daily basis, we consume half of the waste thus significantly reducing the pressure on waste management in Nairobi. With increase in urbanization, rising living standards and developments in technology, there is expected to be a rise in both the amount and variety of solid wastes generated.

In Rongai, there is huge volume of uncollected solid waste. It blocks the drains, at times causing flooding and subsequent spread of water-borne diseases. Solid waste that is not properly disposed, especially household and community refuse, are serious health hazard and can lead to spread of infectious diseases. Unattended waste lying around attracts flies, rats and other creatures that spread diseases. This leads to unhygienic conditions and thereby leading to rise in health problems.

FAO reports 33% of the soils are degraded and could rise to 90% by 2050. To boost production, Kenya imports at least 22,000 tons of synthetic fertilizer annually. Kenyan arable land is losing its quality due to the use of synthetic fertilizer. Degradation of soil means that farmers in Kenya have to use more synthetic fertilizer thus increasing cost of production. Therefore with vermicompost fertilizer farmers can sustainably farm, improve the quality of their farm soil and sustain it in the long term.

Our solution primarily targets the commercial small, medium and large scale farmers. Vermicast boosts nutrients available to plants, enhances soil structure and drainage. As a result, it increases plant growth and suppresses disease and insect attacks. 

To commercial small and large scale farmers, it increases profits by reducing the cost of production while increasing quality and crop yields.

Vermicomposting benefits the environment by reducing the need for chemical fertilizers and decreasing the amount of waste going to the landfills; hence reduced greenhouse gases emissions.

We conducted a pre-survey on December 2019. This was to help us understand the cost, amount and quality of food production in urban and rural areas in Kenya.

From our research, 22% of food in rural areas is purchased while 78% is own produced. In urban setting, 2% is own produced while 98% is purchased. This meant that if rural areas cannot produce enough food for themselves and those of urban areas, the whole country goes into hunger strike.

From this, we thought of a way we could promote urban farming alongside reducing the cost of food production in rural areas while increasing the crop production.

With support of Prof. Luis Glenn, from Earth University in Costa Rica, we can up with our solution on Vermicomposting. This does not only help us promote food security in Kenya but also helps us address the challenges on climate change and environmental pollution.

We address the challenge on food security by promoting an integrated waste management 

We have already rolled out the venture, currently recycling at least 1.5T of organic waste every week. We have contracted six employees to support  us in waste collection, sorting and monitoring of the composting process. We collect the waste from Kware Market in Rongai and hire a transport to deliver collected waste to our recycling site at Kandisi, just a few kilometers from the market. The market produces at least 4T of waste every day.

We anticipate having our product in the market by the end of April.

Vermicomposting entails collection of organic waste from households and market centers. We feed the waste to earthworms, which digest and produce a waste called vermicast; a highly nutritious organic fertilizer.

We aim to manage waste at all stages from generation, to disposal and lastly collection. To achieve this, we intend to launch a digital platform to support us in monitoring these processes. We anticipate establishment of three community-based collection centres and five compost facilities in Rongai. This is to be complimented by the launch a mobile application  to make towns resilient, smart and sustainable.

Through the app, one can be able to identify nearby waste collection center to dispose waste, sell waste to us and get paid or join outreach programs. As a result, we can sustainably and efficiently manage the collection, segregation and transportation of waste to our recycling facilities.

Our product gets into the market in April. We look forward to produce at least 10T of organic waste within the next one year, enough to support at least 400 urban farmers to sustainably produce own food.

We would like to raise awareness around vermicomposting in our communities. This will involve training at least 150 farmers and 3 women and youth community based groups within the next one year. This does not only reduce amount of waste that gets to the landfills but also supports in promoting a circular economy. In addition, this is going to create additional job opportunities to at least 50 young men and women directly from our project within the next one year. These will be tasked with various responsibilities from waste collection, transportation, sorting, harvesting of vermicast and in conducting trainings and workshops’

We would like to recycle at least 60T of organic within the next one year. We currently recycle 1.5T of organic waste every two weeks from 6 beds. We would like to increase the beds to at 24 beds by December 2022. This means, we would be recycling at least 6T of waste every two weeks. These are at least 30T of organic fertilizer produced through our project on vermicomposting. It reduces the amount of synthetic fertilizers imported into the country, by 1.37%, to improve quality of soils for agriculture in Kenya.

We will be launching training and workshops from April.  We are targeting at least 30 farmers per training cycle that lasts for 3 months on sustainable agricultural practices  and environmental sustainability. On this, we are also going to incorporate 3 rural women community based organizations and youth groups. This translates to at least reaching out to 150 farmers within the next one year.

Besides reducing environmental pollution by managing the waste that gets to the landfills and emission of greenhouse gases, we will be creating additional job opportunities to at least 50 young people who will be supporting us to achieve our  mission.

We are monitoring amount of waste that will be recycled annually as a result of our social venture. We have already recycled 3.6T of waste in the first two weeks of January, 2022.

Alongside monitoring the number of people who will have benefitted from our capacity building trainings and workshop programs, we will also check the number of people with adapting to environmentally-friendly sustainable consumption and production practices. 

Another key indicator of our success will be by identifying the number of people who have generated sustainable income through self-employment or new job opportunities as a result of our social venture. As at now, we have already contracted 4 waste sorters, two waste collectors and 2 technical team members to help us in our daily programs.

It can take as long as six months for earthworms to digest the organic matter and turn it into usable soil amendment. In contrast, a traditional compost heap can turn that same organic matter into usable compost in three months if you continuously turn the compost heap every few weeks. For active gardens, this may be too long to wait.

Market entry is likely to be a challenge if not well staged. It will require a lot of energy for marketing and branding and in the process, time and funds shall be a key factor to make it success. Besides, we have minor challenges like competition from already existing companies like DuduTech. For to get to a level where we produce quality vermicast, it will take a lot of time and resources. This is in terms of research prototyping and analysis to enhance the quality of vermicompost.

Earthworms adapting to a new environment where some can die along the process is also a challenge we likely to face. Securing funding to help us expand to large scale especially locally in Kenya is a challenge and how it is expensive to assume into full-scale production.

Diana Warimu, our Director of Production, has an educational background in Agricultural sciences from Earth University, Costa Rica. She is the leader in solid waste management project their school. It entails vermicomposting and normal composting of organic waste from the school cafeteria.

Evans Gitau graduated with business management and information technology. He helped us formulate budget and business plan that helped us to bring to life our social venture.

Prince King´ori has graduated in Law and supports us in legal processes pertaining the venture. Through is support, we have been able to successfully register the venture, legally lease the land for establishment of vermicomposting plant and finally, overseen formal and legal recruitment of our contracted staff members.

Prof Luis Glenn, has a masters’ degree in Environmental Engineering Sciences from the University of Florida and a professional master’s degree in Project Management from Universidad Interamericana, now Universidad Latina de Costa Rica.

I have a background in physics and computer science. However, I have acquired leadership skills through experience and trainings from Equity Group Foundation through Equity Leadership Program by Equity Bank. I have a attended several trainings on Social Entrepreneurship hosted by various organizations like Leap Africa, Millennial Legacy Foundation as well as the Resolution Project.

Through various skills and experiences from this diverse team, we complement each other and that is what has built us to date.

The Resolution Project supported us with the initial grant seed-funding of USD 5,000 that helped us to actualize our idea. 

We have Taka Taka Solutions and WEEE Centre respectively onboard who collects from us the inorganic and electronic wastes respectively, after we have sorted the waste brought at our recycling plant.

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