Ethiopia’s agricultural sector produces much more than what is consumed. Every year, large quantities of coffee husks and pulp, fruit and vegetable residues, cereal straw, oilseed by-products, manure and other agricultural materials are generated. Too often, these resources are burned, dumped or put to limited use contributing to soil degradation, water pollution and lost economic opportunities.
Turning this challenge into an opportunity is the focus of a new study, From Waste to Value: Valorising Agricultural Waste Streams in Ethiopia initiated by the Agricultural team of the Netherlands in Ethiopia and prepared by SPAAK Circular Solutions and TRAIDE Foundation.
This initiative builds on the Netherlands longstanding engagement with Ethiopia and its valued partnerships across Africa in support of more sustainable and resilient food systems. Over the past years, the Netherlands has contributed to regional collaboration on postharvest management, including through its role as a premium sponsor of the All Africa Postharvest Congress and Exhibition (AAPHCE) in Addis Ababa.
The study explores how agricultural residues can be put to better use, creating opportunities for businesses and farmers while contributing to a cleaner and more resilient agricultural sector in Ethiopia.
Turning a challenge into an opportunity
Ethiopia faces significant challenges related to land degradation, soil fertility and waste management. Around 70% of organic waste in Ethiopia currently is lost, while an estimated 25% of land is degraded and soils are increasingly acidic and depleted. At the same time, Ethiopia imports large volumes of fertilizers, energy products, and packaging materials, some of which could potentially be produced from locally available resources.
Agricultural waste valorisation offers an opportunity to address several of these challenges in the country, including:
- Reduce pollution and restore soils by replacing open dumping and burning with composting, biochar and biofertilizers.
- Create jobs and new value chains in collection, processing and product development.
- Strengthen rural incomes and resilience by turning low‑value residues into additional revenue streams.
- Build Dutch-Ethiopian collaboration around circular agribusiness, technology and investment and
- Substitute imports and open export markets.
Mapping the waste to opportunity - Seven priority streams
The study maps agricultural waste streams across different sectors and identifies promising opportunities based on market potential, environmental and social benefits, technological feasibility, import substitution potential, and opportunities for partnership with Dutch expertise and businesses. The analysis focuses on the following key waste streams:
- Coffee waste (husks, pulp, parchment, silverskin, Coffee mucilage) from Ethiopia’s largest export crop.
- Edible oil and oilseed residues, including press cakes and hulls from sesame, soybean and avocado processing.
- Brewery and malt by‑products, such as spent grain, husks, yeast and steepwater.
- Fruit and vegetable waste, driven by high post‑harvest losses and cold‑chain gaps.
- Cereal residues, including wheat straw, teff straw, corn cobs and sorghum stalks.
- Manure from cattle, poultry and other livestock.
- Cotton and textile waste from a growing industrial sector.
From concept to practice - Five concrete business cases
Building on the mapping and assessment of these waste streams, the study identifies five promising business concepts that illustrate how waste streams can be turned into practical and viable business opportunities:
1. Coffee husks into cascara products
Coffee processing leaves more than half of the cherry as waste. Today, husks are often burned or left to rot, acidifying soils and contaminating water. The report outlines how changing coffee husks into cascara products creates additional income for smallholders, reduces emissions from open disposal and retains more value in Ethiopia beyond raw coffee exports.
2. Avocado oil residues into powder, cosmetics and biochar
Avocado oil processing generates skins and pits that are currently used as low-grade animal feed. The study identifies opportunities to produce avocado powder for food and export markets, develop cosmetic oils and bioactive compounds for personal care products, and convert processing residues into biochar and organic fertilizers that can help restore degraded soils. These options can help address feed deficits, foreign‑exchange needs and soil degradation, while creating new revenue streams.
3. Manure and brewery sludge into fertiliser
Mismanaged manure and brewery waste contribute to pollution and nutrient loss in Ethiopian soils, while the country imports nearly 2 million tonnes of chemical fertiliser annually. The report proposes combining poultry manure and brewery waste to produce standardized compost and biofertiliser.
This circular approach can reduce import dependence, recycle nutrients into agriculture and create jobs in collection, processing and distribution.
4. Banana stems into paper pulp
Most banana stems are used as mulch, wasted or burned, while Ethiopia imports large volumes of pulp and paper. The study describes a business case for producing pulp from banana stems, and supplying local paper and carton factories and potentially exporting to regional or European Union markets.
This can prevent CO₂ emissions from tree‑based virgin pulp, create hundreds of field jobs and open locally sourced sustainable packaging opportunities.
5. Mango pruning waste into biochar
Abandoned and pruned mango trees are creating a biomass overshoot, while surrounding coffee soils lack organic matter. The report outlines: Establishing a pyrolysis facility to convert pruning residues into biochar and supplying it to nearby farms to improve soil structure and store carbon.
Biochar use offers both climate benefits and productivity gains, particularly if linked to carbon‑offset schemes and farmer training.
Creating the right enabling environment
For these opportunities to become viable businesses, the right policy and investment environment is essential.
Ethiopia is already moving in a supportive direction. Environmental policies increasingly discourage practices such as open burning and promote alternatives such as composting. National strategies on solid waste management and emerging circular-economy roadmaps provide a broader policy foundation. Investment incentives are also available for areas including environmental protection, renewable energy and agro-processing, with tax and customs benefits in relevant sectors. Rural biogas initiatives and public–private partnership frameworks for waste-to-energy further demonstrate the potential for practical solutions.
At the same time, challenges remain. Greater awareness and enforcement of existing regulations are needed, while standards and certification systems for new bio-based products can be strengthened. Overlapping institutional responsibilities, as well as support structures that can favour chemical fertilizers over organic alternatives, may also make it more difficult for new circular solutions to develop. Better zoning and land-use planning could further support the establishment of facilities for collecting and processing agricultural residues.
Addressing these barriers will require coordination, dialogue and collaboration between government, the private sector, farmers, knowledge institutions and development partners.
From findings to action - what it will take to turn the study into reality
The report concludes that successful business cases will require:
- An active lead partner with the willingness to drive each opportunity forward.
- Smart logistics solutions, building on existing transport, collection and processing hubs.
- Stronger policy enforcement, making improper waste disposal more costly and valorisation more attractive.
- Import‑replacement and impact‑driven business models, focusing on fertilizer, energy, feed and packaging.
- Dutch technology, expertise and market links, to support design, financing and scaling.
What our team will prioritize next
The next step is to help move these opportunities from potential to practical action. Our focus will be to:
- Facilitate introductions between Ethiopian businesses with Dutch buyers, investors, and technology providers.
- Support dialogue on clearer and better-enforced regulations, particularly for fertilizer and biochar.
- Help build a shared knowledge base on standards, regulations and best practices for waste valorization.
The study is an important step, but its greatest value will come from turning opportunities into action. This means bringing together farmers, businesses, investors, knowledge institutions and public partners to explore practical solutions, develop pilots and build viable new value chains.
The Netherlands is pleased to contribute to this process by connecting Dutch knowledge, innovation and experience with Ethiopia’s growing ambitions for sustainable and circular agriculture. Our approach is straightforward: prevent food loss wherever possible, make better use of what remains, and create new value from agricultural resources.
By working together, we can help turn residues into resources, environmental challenges into business opportunities, and new ideas into practical solutions that benefit farmers, businesses, communities and the environment.
The Netherlands looks forward to continuing this partnership with Ethiopia and its many partners as we work together towards a more sustainable, resilient and circular agricultural future.
Please find the final report on valorising agricultural waste streams in Ethiopia in here.
Stay tuned! we’ll be sharing more updates for the follow up projects.
More information
You can reach out to the LAN team in Addis for more information or questions via ADD-LVVN@minbuza.nl