Economic viability of faecal sludge-to-fortifer composting project in the northern sector of Ghana

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Date
AUGUST, 2015
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Abstract
Recently, the application of excreta-based fertilizers has attracted attention due to the strongly increasing prices of chemically produced fertilizers and poor soil fertility problem of the agricultural land. Meanwhile, faecal sludge from on-site sanitation systems is rich in nutrients and organic matter constituents, which contribute to replenishing the humus layer and soil nutrient reservoir and to improving soil structure and water-holding capacity. Hence, it represents an important resource for enhancing soil productivity on a sustainable basis. However, there is little in the scientific literature about the performance of treatment technology allowing recovery of nutrient resources from human waste. Meanwhile, waste management is seen as a financial burden for most developing countries. Hence, there is a general call for private sector participation in the sanitation sector. In Ghana, the most predominant way of managing waste is by disposal in designated and illegal places. In an attempt to find a sustainable way of managing faecal sludge and solid organic waste, the fortifer business model which falls within the broad resource reuse and recovery project was started by the International Water Management Institute on a pilot scale. This led to the production of fortified excreta pellets, the so called “fortifer”.The feasibility of faecal sludge and or market waste composting into fortifer in the Northern Ghana was studied from an economic perspective. Two models using the ‘fortifer’ were evaluated under this study. The decentralized composting plant situated at the Tamale metropolis is being operated by both community and entrepreneur (M1), and the second one involves operation by the entrepreneur alone (M2). The results reveal that the fortifer business model is economically viable for the two ownership scenarios. From the results, it was noted that, the facilities being operated by both community and entrepreneur (M1), is the best alternative which generates the highest cost-benefit ratio and net present benefit. On the other hand, the second alternative (M2) had the highest capital costs. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted. M1 was always better than the other alternative regardless of the changes in the key uncertain parameters.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension in the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Philosophy Degree in Agricultural Economics.
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