Sud-Kivu: organic fertiliser offered to farmers as a sustainable fertiliser

Bukavu, June 11^th, 2025(CPA).- Organic fertilisers were proposed to farmers on Wednesday at a working session in Bukavu in Sud-Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as a sustainable fertiliser with a view to gradually replace the use of chemical fertilisers.  ‘Organic fertilisers come as an alternative to chemical fertilisers, which are notorious for their pollution and harmful effects on the health of the soil and consumers, hence the need to offer them to farmers’, has declared Bienfait Bazibuhe Kalinga, Project Management Manager and General Agriculture Expert. ‘Organic fertilisers are purely natural and sustainable for good yields and production, compared with chemical fertilisers, which are quick to harvest but destroy the soil and the health of consumers’, he has indicated. To make organic fertilisers, he has explained that farmers should use dead leaves and branches from certain trees such as bananas. In short, the time needed to make compost varies over several months, generally between 6 and 12 months. He went on to say that there are faster methods for obtaining mature compost in just a few weeks, whereas for conventional composting the time required is 6 to 12 months, or even longer, depending on the climatic conditions and the composition of the compost. Mr Bazibuhe Kalinga has evocated the theoretical and practical training sessions he organises with farmers and representatives of various organisations, focusing in particular on compost made in heaps or in a composter by alternating green (nitrogen-rich) and brown (carbon-rich) organic matter.