The medals were a moment of celebration for Charity Kelsy and her colleagues at Egerton University. But the work that brought them to that stage began with a problem that rarely attracts much attention: waste.
Kelsy is part of a growing generation of African researchers and innovators looking at ways to turn agricultural and organic waste into something useful, including alternative sources of animal feed and fertiliser.
In July, that work earned continental recognition when Egerton University won both Gold and Silver medals at the Africa Division Contest finals of the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition, held in Nairobi. Black soldier flies may not sound like an obvious answer to Africa’s food challenges. But their larvae can feed on organic waste and produce protein that can be processed for animal feed. Their residue can also be used as organic fertilizer.
For Kelsy, that creates a potential circular system: waste becomes an input, insects become a source of protein and the remaining material returns to agriculture.
When you talk about black soldier fly, you are not only talking about an alternative source of protein or organic fertiliser. You are also talking about organic waste management.
The idea addresses several challenges at once. Farmers face rising feed costs. Cities and farms generate large quantities of organic waste. And agricultural systems are under increasing pressure to use land, water and other resources more efficiently.
But Kelsy is careful not to present insect farming as a magic solution. The technology has to make economic sense. That is where the gap between innovation and impact becomes important. A promising idea can work in a laboratory and still fail to reach farmers.
Kelsy has therefore been involved in taking research beyond the university, working with farmers and young people on black soldier fly production and other regenerative approaches.
Her work is also connected to the INCiTiS-FOOD initiative, which supports circular and inclusive food systems in African cities and regions.
At Egerton's Nakuru Living Lab, black soldier fly production has been explored as part of a system linking organic waste, animal feed and fertiliser. The principle is straightforward. Instead of allowing waste to leave the food system, find another use for it.
Making that system work commercially requires more than scientific knowledge. Farmers need training. Producers need markets. Researchers need evidence. Regulators need appropriate standards. And investors need confidence that the business can survive.
Kelsy sees all of these pieces as part of the innovation process. It is a challenge familiar to universities across Africa. Research can generate valuable findings, but those findings do not always make their way back to the communities that could use them. Kelsy argues that researchers have a responsibility to help bridge that gap.
Researchers are also vehicles that need to help move research back to the people.
That means working with farmers, policymakers and other actors from the beginning rather than treating them as an audience at the end of a research project. It is an approach reflected in the living-lab model, which brings researchers, policymakers, financial institutions and farmers into the same process.
The competition in Nairobi provided a different kind of validation. The Africa Division Contest brought together university innovators from across the continent to present ideas addressing social and economic challenges.
Kelsy's work extends beyond insect farming. She is also involved in aquaponics, regenerative agriculture, climate action and youth mentorship.
In aquaponics, fish and vegetables are produced within an integrated system in which water and nutrients circulate between the two while In regenerative agriculture, the emphasis is on producing food while reducing environmental damage and restoring the resources on which farming depends.
Across Africa, the pressure to find new ways of producing food, creating jobs and adapting to climate change is growing. The continent has a large and increasingly educated young population, universities producing new research and a vast market for solutions.
But turning those ideas into lasting change remains the challenge. For innovators such as Charity Kelsy, the journey from a university project to something that works for farmers and communities is still being tested.
The medals in Nairobi recognise what has already been achieved. What matters now is whether Africa can build the institutions, investment and markets needed to take more of these ideas beyond the competition, and into everyday life.
