Circular Bioeconomy Practices, Crop Farming, Household Income, and Work Hours in Africa

The rapidly increasing global population and climate change have rendered the linear model of resource use unsustainable for resilient food systems, and thus inappropriate to deliver the United Nations’ 2030 agenda. An alternative model, the circular bioeconomy (CB) has been proposed to ensure; a reduction in resources used, waste generated, and reusing of bio-waste in agriculture. However, the expected nature of association for prominent CB practices proposed more so in Africa, has not been investigated regarding key household livelihood support activities like crop farming, or welfare drivers like income. Using regression models and household data from Africa, we find that CB practices (use of organic waste as compost, or as livestock feed, or sorting organic waste) are significantly more likely to influence households towards crop farming (by 13%, 7%, and 5% respectively). However, using organic waste as compost was associated with a significant decrease in annual household income of 2%, unlike using it as animal feed. Using organic waste as livestock feed was associated with a 2% significant increase in work hours per day. Thus, CB innovations would prioritize improvements in incomes while enhancing circular food systems, by focusing on economically viable CB practices like the use of organic waste as livestock feeds, where high-value products like milk, or meat could easily be realized. However, for sustainable adoption, mechanisms like grinders should be incorporated to reduce labor intensity.