ORGANIC GROWTH

This unassuming entrepreneur from Benin has created an alternative to chemical fertilizers that most farmers use in Africa. He is the CEO of AGRECO Sarl and at 22, is looking to expand his company creating impact across West Africa.

- LILLIAN ROBERTS

THE RISE IN FOOD PRICES AS a result of the war in Ukraine is accelerating inflation in regions of Africa, a new report by the World Food Programme (WFP) outlines. It says that increasing food prices pose a threat to food security in a region dealing with conflict, climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report further highlights that countries like South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi are highly dependent on imported chemical fertilizer, and shortages will create issues for the next agricultural season’s planting and yields.

Despite this bleak outlook, innovators in Africa are trying to change the game. One of those is Djifa Constant Ayihounoun, from Abomey-Calavi, 20km from the city of Cotonou in Benin.

At only 22, Ayihounoun has already secured his place as an entrepreneur, as the founder of AGRECO Sarl, an organic fertilizer and pesticides company.

In 2018, while he was still a student and trainee at an environmental impact studies firm, he conducted a study merely out of curiosity – on the impact of human economic activities on the environment.

“My research allowed me to discover that agriculture alone is responsible for more than 25% of global warming, and therefore has a huge negative impact on the environment,” Ayihounoun says.

This is echoed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2013) which says agriculture, forestry, and the alteration of land-use account for as much as 25% of human-induced GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions.

He decided to study agricultural practices in depth. He learned that chemical inputs in fertilizers and pesticides have an adverse impact.