Turning Organic Waste into Jobs: Africa’s Path to Green Growth and Stronger Agrifood Systems

Africa’s mounting waste and unemployment challenges can be tackled together by transforming organic waste, through composting, biochar, insects, and mushrooms into valuable agrifood resources that generate jobs and restore soils. The ILO report shows how appropriate, locally suited technologies can turn waste into a driver of green, inclusive economic growth.

Africa's dual crises of unemployment and environmental degradation take center stage in the International Labour Organization (ILO) report From Organic Waste to Agrifood Value, produced with strong inputs from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The paper argues that organic waste, traditionally seen as a burden, holds untapped potential to generate jobs, improve soil health, and build resilience in agrifood systems. With Africa's population projected to skyrocket and youth unemployment already high, the study presents organic waste transformation as one of the most scalable and appropriate pathways toward a greener, fairer economic model.

Appropriate Technology: A Return to Context-Driven Innovation

The report explains that Africa's waste problem is inseparable from its employment challenges. Cities collect less than half of the waste they generate, most of it organic, while millions of young people lack decent work, especially in rural and agricultural sectors plagued by low productivity and high post-harvest losses. The authors draw on the philosophy of "appropriate technology," first popularized by E.F. Schumacher, emphasizing tools and systems that suit local conditions, skills, and resource availability. Rather than importing expensive, capital-intensive solutions like incinerators, the paper argues for waste technologies that create learning opportunities, foster community ownership, and generate employment at all levels of the value chain. Crucially, organic-waste technologies fall along a continuum: some simply enhance farm performance, while others grow into profitable enterprises or stimulate broader capability-building across communities.

Urban Innovations: Waste Workers as Green Economy Architects

Case studies bring this continuum to life. In Accra, Ghana, rapid urbanization produces more than 2,000 tonnes of daily waste, much of it handled by informal workers. Through the CLEAN program, funded by the Global Cities Fund, over 400 migrant waste pickers have been brought into cooperatives, trained, insured, and provided with childcare. The initiative shows how formal recognition of informal workers increases efficiency, boosts recycling rates, and improves livelihoods. Similarly, composting emerges as a job-rich, environmentally friendly alternative to landfilling. In the ILO-supported "Ecological Village" project in Sfax Nord, Tunisia, households sort waste at source before it is turned into compost for restoring degraded soil. This integrated system is poised to create around 210 permanent jobs across sorting, composting, product processing, and community awareness, with women filling a significant share of roles.

From Soil Regeneration to Circular Markets

Other examples highlight how technologies can evolve from simple practices into value-adding industries. In Zimbabwe, vermicomposting programs by FAO and Sable Chemicals train rural youth to convert biodegradable waste into high-quality organic fertilizers, demonstrating how basic biological processes can open pathways into commercial markets. Argentina's peanut-growing region offers a more industrial-scale model: peanut shells, once a by-product discarded, are now used to manufacture biofertilizers, generate electricity, and even produce ecological bricks through a network of private firms, research institutes, and farmer groups. Biochar production also features prominently. In Namibia, Africa Sun Holdings works with the Ovitoto Conservancy to convert encroaching bush into biochar using low-cost pyrolysis kilns. Carbon sequestration from the process is certified and sold internationally as Carbon Removal Certificates, creating income for rural workers while improving rangelands and strengthening local farming systems.

Insects and Mushrooms: The New Frontier of Green Entrepreneurship

One of the most dynamic technologies showcased in the report is Black Soldier Fly (BSF) farming, an emerging insect-based feed industry that turns organic waste into high-protein larvae for poultry and fish. In Zimbabwe's tilapia value chain, FAO's FISH4ACP program has helped establish youth-run BSF breeding centers that significantly reduce feed costs and increase fish output. With thousands of producers already active in Kenya and Uganda, BSF farming is viewed as a high-potential employer capable of lifting millions out of poverty. Oyster mushroom farming offers another accessible model for small-scale entrepreneurship. In Zimbabwe's Marondera district, a youth-led enterprise funded by the Green Jobs for Rural Youth Employment program has tripled production, employing eight full-time workers and training local farmers to turn crop residues into a steady income source.