Support this Refugee-Led Biochar Startup in Uganda!

Farmer entrepreneurs in Nakivale, Uganda, one of Africa's oldest refugee settlements, are on the brink of taking their biochar production from a pilot to a self-sustaining business.

With your generous support we can help them get there - achieving improved soil quality, greater food security, local job creation, and carbon removal in one highly replicable model.

Our Crowdfund Target

USD $9,300 by June 1

Project Background

In 2023, OpenAir members all over the world helped crowdfund phase 1 of this project, funding the manufacture and installation of three biochar kilns in Nakivale. Since that time, the team, led by local entrepreneur Marius Iragi, has been recruited and trained. A regular supply of local waste biomass has been secured, and production has been ramping up daily for several months.

This amazing progress owes to the commitment and creativity of the Nakivale team, lead by Marius Iragi, himself a Congolese refugee living in the settlement.

Everyday the team of four is producing biochar, and reporting data via the C-Go mobile app. This data confirms that the biochar is being produced at the right temperature and under the right conditions to ensure both high quality output for agricultural benefit, and that carbon dioxide is being removed in the process.

In the coming weeks, enough quality data will have been submitted to enable an independent audit. Pending positive assessment by the auditor, the project will then be able to sell carbon removal credits based on a methodology developed by our partner C-Capsule, to a variety of purchasers all over the world through credentialed marketplaces. 

But to move this highly replicable model from the pilot phase to an ongoing self-sustaining operation, we are seeking your support again to fund.

What Nakivale needs funding for:

• Operational gap funding - $2,000. The audit process is critical to the project’s future viability, and cannot be rushed. It requires a sequence of detailed data submissions that have required months to complete. We anticipate that the team will be wrapped up with its part by mid-April, but it will take an additional two months for the audit to be complete and for Nakivale to be in a position to sell its first carbon removal credits. During this period, the project requires gap funding to keep its operations going (biomass transport, rent, security) and its young team paid.

• Weather-proofing - $1,900. The kilns are sturdy and well suited for long-term outdoor use. However, the long Uganda rainy season has created challenges for consistent operations, making it difficult to keep the team, the biomass feedstock, and the finished biochar dry. To solve these we will build a rain-proof canopy over the kilns, and a storage shed to keep both the feedstock and biochar from getting wet.

• Impact study - $5,400. The effects of biochar on soil and crop productivity are not immediately evident, and require a long-term two phase control-based field study over a 12-24 month period to assess the impact of biochar amendment practices within the local context. This initiative is driven by the opportunity to improve farmers' lives and security, with carbon removal as the revenue driver making that possible. If we cannot demonstrate and publish the results of biochar on soil, both for local farmers and other communities, as well as future investors and supporters, the justification for continuation and replication will be negatively impacted. The impact study will be designed and carried out by Nakivale Chief Scientist, Sarah Nelima (soil science M.Sc), and will commence immediately as soon as funding is secured.

More resources about this project

• The Nakivale Biochar Project Deck

• A pilot production tour with Bertin Munguankonkwa, Nakivale’s Logistics and Biomass Supply Manager.

• COP 28 Project Webinar (December 2023)