In Summary
- His first venture came in 2015, when nuisance bees around his home turned into a business opportunity.
- Mwangi installed hives and within a year-and-a-half, harvested 78kg of honey from just four hives. Selling the honey in Nairobi earned him almost as much as his monthly salary.
When Robert Mwangi quit his accounting job in Nairobi a decade ago, he never imagined his future lay in turning waste into fertiliser.
Today, the 33-year-old father of two from Pwani village, Lare ward, Njoro subcounty in Nakuru county, is producing Bokashi fertiliser commercially, training farmers and proving how agroecological farming can create wealth, feed communities and tackle climate change.
Bokashi is fermented organic manure and a plant-based pest repellent.
Mwangi’s journey into agriculture started almost by accident. Trained in economics and accounting, farming was the last thing on his mind. But after a frustrating stint in formal employment, he longed for work that offered both meaning and sustainability.
“I wasn’t satisfied with the job that I had,” Mwangi recalls. “The environment at the workplace was not very conducive and I had this drive to create something that would have an impact at the community level and maybe also pay better.”
His first venture came in 2015, when nuisance bees around his home turned into a business opportunity.
Mwangi installed hives and, within a year and a half, harvested 78kg of honey from just four hives. Selling the honey in Nairobi earned him almost as much as his monthly salary.
“That was a real encouragement,” he says. “But since honey isn’t harvested every month, I needed something else to sustain the business.”
Next came poultry farming. After training at Kenchic, Mwangi reared 200 chickens. The birds thrived, prompting him to resign from his job and return home full-time.
But once he factored in costs, the profits looked slim. This disheartened the farmer and he nearly gave up, until a chance encounter at Egerton University introduced him to the black soldier fly (BSF) technology.
“I learned that the larvae could be used as a cheap protein source for poultry,” he explains. “It reduced costs, improved growth rates and even helped recycle waste.”
That discovery was a turning point. By 2018, Mwangi was experimenting with BSF to complement poultry production.
Around the same time, Kenya’s Youth-in-Agriculture policy opened doors to training, networking and leadership opportunities, including serving as secretary in a World Bank-funded agricultural project.
Through this exposure, he discovered agroecology—an approach to farming that stresses on sustainability, food safety and circularity.
“The tomatoes in our greenhouse looked perfect, but I couldn’t eat them because of the pesticides we were applying,” he admits.
“Hence organic farming and agroecology resonated deeply with me.”
With training from Participatory Ecological Land Use Management-Kenya and Biovision Africa Trust, Mwangi became a multiplier or trainer of trainers in agroecological practices such as making Bokashi.
“I then realised that while farmers liked the concept, many preferred buying ready-made inputs rather than producing their own. Sensing the opportunity, I began producing Bokashi and organic fertilisers commercially,” he says.
Today, his enterprise produces up to 700 bags of 50kg Bokashi per season, selling each at about Sh2,000. Although demand fluctuates outside planting seasons, his fertilisers have reached hundreds of farmers.
To fortify his Bokashi, Mwangi integrates BSF frass, the nutrient-rich byproduct of larvae rearing to create a more stable, high-quality fertiliser. His business employs four staff permanently and up to seven casual workers during peak production.
He gets waste to produce the Bokashi fertiliser from Nakuru’s Wakulima Municipal Market, where vendors generate a steady stream of organic residues.
“Nothing goes to waste. We recycle waste into fertiliser and chicken feed,” Mwangi explains.
But the journey has not been without challenges. Certification hurdles, scepticism after the counterfeit fertiliser scandal and limited access to capital and land remain barriers.
“But the biggest challenge is attitude,” he says.
“Many youths still see farming as dirty work for the old. Convincing even yourself to take the leap is not easy. As long as people eat every day, farming will never run out of opportunities.”
Despite these hurdles, Mwangi is determined to expand. His five-year vision is to provide farmers with a complete suite of organic inputs, from fertilisers to biopesticides and link them to fair markets.
“Agriculture is the next big thing,” he insists. “Especially agroecology. The opportunities are limitless.”
Manei Nanyu, head of programmes at Pelum Kenya, says youth like Mwangi are central to agroecology’s future.
“If we strengthen certification systems, improve infrastructure and support women and youth in cross-border trade, agroecological products will thrive,” she says.
During a recent multi-stakeholder workshop on cross-border trade in agroecological produce, organised by Pelum and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, participants pointed out barriers that farmers face in exporting organic produce.
These include complex customs procedures, costly certification and gender-based harassment at border posts.
They proposed solutions ranging from policy reforms to stronger farmer cooperatives.
A new AFSA study on agroecological trade within the East African Community revealed both opportunities and hurdles.
The EAC Treaty and the Common Market Protocol provide for the free movement of goods and services, with agriculture making up 65 per cent of intra-EAC trade.
But agroecological entrepreneurs still struggle with data gaps, weak certification and limited market prioritisation.
The report noted that intra-EAC trade is projected to grow from 15 per cent to 40 per cent by 2030, depending on whether the region strengthens agroecology and open-air markets at border posts.
Key products currently traded include maize, avocados, bananas, potatoes, beans and sorghum, though official figures often fail to distinguish between conventional and agroecological produce.
Nanyu notes that Mwangi’s story shows what is possible when innovation, resilience, and supportive policies align.
“By turning market waste into fertile soils, he is not only earning a living but also inspiring a new generation to see sustainable farming not as a last resort, but as a frontier of opportunity and innovation,” she concludes.
This article was originally published by the Star Newspaper
