Ugandan farmers’ crisis-time fertilizer relies heavily on maggots.

Moses Wamugango stared into plastic vats of rotting maggots, a neighbor’s enviable fertilization experiment. Black soldier fly larvae transform food waste into organic fertilizer. Unless they’re helpful, farmers loathe them.

Wamugango wanted maggots too. Two weeks ago, agricultural authorities took his name and indicated they’d send him four vats. “Waiting. Last time, they missed me. That’s my issue.”

Rising commodity prices blamed on Russia’s conflict in Ukraine are affecting Ugandan farmers. According to the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership, several common fertilizers are hard to get.

Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa generate most of the food. Agriculture specialists demand additional government and foreign assistance.

Some who have cautioned against synthetic fertilizer for years regard larval farming as an example of organic farming. They intend to expand the program slowly. Other nations, including Nigeria and Kenya, have larvae farming initiatives.

Muhammad Magezi of agricultural exporter Enimiro inspects black soldier fly cages in Kangulumira, Kayunga District, Uganda, on Sept. 5, 2022. Their larvae are used to make organic fertilizer from food waste.

Uganda is a regional food hub, but the conflict in Ukraine has caused fertilizer costs to double or treble, leading some to regard larvae farming as an example of sustainable organic agriculture. (Hajarah Nalwadda/AP)

Muhammad Magezi of agricultural exporter Enimiro inspects black soldier fly cages in Kangulumira, Kayunga District, Uganda, on Sept. 5, 2022. Their larvae are used to make organic fertilizer from food waste.

Uganda is a regional food hub, but the conflict in Ukraine has caused fertilizer costs to double or treble, leading some to regard larvae farming as an example of sustainable organic agriculture. (Hajarah Nalwadda/AP)

Hundreds of smallholder farmers in Kampala, Uganda, cultivate the short-lived yet prolific bug.

As the price of synthetic fertilizer climbed, more farmers joined, posing the difficulty of caring for demanding plants like coffee. Since January 2021, more than 1,300 larvae growers have joined.

It’s a win-win. Waste management firm Marula Proteen and agricultural exporter Enimiro provide farmers with young larvae and vats.

Farmers are promised a three-fold monetary reward from raising larvae on food waste for 14 days, with the residual excrement and compost used to fertilize their plants.

Joseph Wagudoma, who received eight vats in February, used to fear maggots. “When I heard someone rearing maggots, I asked, ‘How?'”

When he observed a trainee happily plunging his hands into a vat, his trepidation subsided.

Wagudoma earns $10 for every crop, enough to purchase food and save. His birds no longer go far from dangling vats to capture larvae. He sprinkles liquid compost around thriving coffee and vanilla plants.

“Sunburned plants perished. My fertilizer makes my soil cool and pleasant “Six-parent family. “My coffee plants have prettier blossoms now. I like maggots. I get money and fertilizer.”

In central Uganda’s Kayunga area, farmers’ suspicion about maggots was an early barrier. Muhammad Magezi of Enimiro says agricultural extension workers are in high demand.

“Many of them come to our hub to beg for larvae,” he added. A similar operation is ongoing in western Uganda to recruit 2,000 farmers in Kayunga. The larval farming initiative is “a viable answer” to poverty, imported fertilizer reliance, and climate change, said VSO’s Ruchi Tripathi.

She remarked, “We can’t keep damaging our soils.” “How much can you utilize the soils, and for how long?”

She added the rising popularity of larval farming means some African nations can ditch synthetic fertilizer.

Tommie Hooft van Huijsduinen of the Marula Proteen organization aiding out-growers in Kayunga said African towns should have plants like one in Kampala that use a percentage of daily garbage to develop larvae.

Due to the high cost of synthetic fertilizer, his firm has more orders than it can fill. His solution is four times cheaper than synthetic fertilizer on the market, and professional coffee producers are evaluating its efficacy.

“Before (the Ukraine conflict), we were seeking clients and encouraging them to try it,” he added. Now, “I want more fertilizer.”