How Homemade Fertilizer is Vitalizing Coffee Farms in Uganda

Smallholder farmers in Uganda are dealing with the challenge of soil depletion, but homemade fertilizer promises to protect future harvests.

BY DANIEL MURAGA
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE

Featured photo by Michael Starkie

What to know:

• Soil depletion threatens Uganda’s coffee farmers: As coffee production grows, declining soil health could reduce yields and threaten the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers
• Tannery waste is being turned into “smart” fertilizer: Ugandan scientists are converting animal-skin waste into a collagen-based fertilizer enriched with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that releases nutrients based on soil needs
• The fertilizer could support more sustainable coffee production: Early farm trials show promising results, while researchers say it could reduce dependence on chemical fertilizers and benefit farmers and the environment. A market-ready product is expected by the end of 2026, with plans to expand across East and Central Africa.

Uganda, recently surpassed Ethiopia as Africa’s largest coffee exporter by volume, relies heavily on its coffee industry for economic development and survival. In May of 2025, Uganda exported 47,606 metric tons of coffee (equivalent to 793,445 bags of 60 kg each), generating about $243 million that month alone. But coffee is not just a revenue generator—it directly supports between 1.7 and 2.5 million farmers, making it an important source of livelihood for innumerable families throughout the country.

However, as coffee production increases, pressure on farmland intensifies. The country continues to suffer from soil depletion, which threatens not only coffee harvest volumes but also the financial and economic security of smallholder farmers. However, a new solution is raising hopes and optimism among farmers: locally produced collagen-based fertilizer, extracted from animal waste. 

By increasing microbial activity and replenishing essential nutrients, this fertilizer promises to boost harvests and protect the environment. Experts in agriculture maintain that this sustainable product could be the key to preserving Uganda’s place as a global coffee powerhouse while enabling farmers to produce more with healthier soil.    

From tannery to farm

A tannery is a place where raw animal skins and hides are collected, cleaned, treated, and finally converted to leather. During processing, fat, blood, leftover tissue, and other impurities must be cleaned off the hides and skins, releasing unpleasant-smelling volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and pungent gases such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.

Leaving the fresh, vibrant aromas of coffee for a stale tannery experience can only happen once for the curious and never again; however, the two sectors seem to be colliding, but not in a bad way. Scientists in Uganda have devised a method through which waste generated in tanneries is transformed into a nutrient-rich fertilizer for coffee farming.

“The tanning process only uses 20 percent of the leather skin, leaving 80 percent as waste, which contributes to pollution and is hazardous to communities near tanneries,” says Simon Peter Musinguzi, the lead scientist and senior lecturer at Kyambogo University. “We saw an opportunity to turn this waste into something beneficial—an organic fertilizer that supports agriculture, the environment, and farmers’ incomes.”

By converting this waste from tanneries into a smart, organic fertilizer, researchers hope to increase economic development, environmental sustainability, and social prosperity. 

The collagen factor

Collagen, which is the key ingredient in this new fertilizer, is a protein extracted from the skin of animals. Once extracted, collagen is used to make a hydrogel that is then augmented with nutrients such as phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen that are all essential for plant growth. 

The earlier description of the fertilizer as “smart” was not a typo; the fertilizer feeds the nutrients into the plants only as required. 

“The smart aspect of this fertilizer is its ability to detect and release nutrients based on what the soil needs,” Simon explains. “If a particular nutrient is lacking, the fertilizer responds accordingly, reducing the need for repeated applications.”

A success story for farmers

The European Union, which is one of the best coffee markets for Uganda, has always wanted to see farmers adopt more organic and sustainable farming practices, including applying organic fertilizers. But Frank Matovu, whose coffee farm in Masaka was used to test this collagen fertilizer and who has hailed it as remarkable for better harvests, posits that other chemical alternatives are unsuitable. 

He has observed that chemical fertilizers weaken the soil with time, forcing farmers to depend on them in the long term, saying that this “becomes an economic burden and a threat to future farming,” and therefore, this new fertilizer is a big win for them.

“Many fertilizers on the market create a dependency cycle—farmers have to keep using them, or their yields drop,” says Geoffrey Seruwu from the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), who supports and believes the new fertilizer could be an important gain for Uganda’s agricultural sector. 

Looking ahead

The scientists are now assessing the fertilizer’s longevity in soil and plan to have a market-ready product by the end of the year. They plan to supply farmers in Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia.

“When everything is done, we will seek partnership with government and other agricultural stakeholders, and this will determine the price and how to scale up,” Simon concludes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel Muraga (he/him) is a communications expert, researcher, writer, and editor based in Kenya with over 10 years of experience in the industry. His mission is to highlight Africa’s contributions to the realms of science, technology, innovation, culture, food, and related fields. He has done extensive research and written widely in the coffee niche for Sprudge Media, as well as in related areas for Life & Thyme and CQ Researcher, among others. When not writing, he is always outdoors communing with nature. You can find him on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.

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