ABSTRACT
The study determined the feasibility of “Black Soldier Fly Larvae” composting and its utilization for vegetable farming in Greater Accra, Ghana. Discounted measures of project worth such as NPV, BCR and IRR were used in viability analysis. The gains obtained from replacing farmer practice with the new compost practice were estimated using the partial budget approach. Through field experimentation, the cost of using BSFL-compost and conventional fertilizer to produce lettuce for one crop season was estimated. The Likert scale, Cronbach’s Alpha and t-test were applied in the analysis of perception statements to determine farmer perceptions of risks and benefits of the BSFL compost for farming. The amount farmers were willing to pay to use the BSFL compost for farming was determined through contingent valuation (CV) method. The factors that influence the amount farmers’ willingness to pay were analysed using the Tobit model since it was a censored data. Two hundred vegetable farmers were selected for the perception and CV studies. The results of the study show that at a discount rate of 25% and a price of GH¢20.00/25 Kg of BSFL compost, a 2,700 Mt capacity compost plant with 20 years life span, will have NPV of GH¢1.4 million and BCR of 1.51, and IRR of 38.69%. There will be a cost savings of approximately GH¢60.00/100m2 /crop season when a farmer uses BSFL-compost for lettuce production instead of chemical fertilizer. The results of the Cronbach’s Alphas of 0.817 (perceived benefit) and 0.730 (perceived risk) showed that there is positive perception towards BSFL- compost. The factors that significantly influence farmers’ willingness to pay GH¢12.03/25kg of BSFL compost include being male and, full time farmer, having experience with compost use, operating larger farm size and being wealthy. It is recommended that potential entrepreneur should identify cost effective plant components (eg. drum for composting) to reduce cost of investment. Since there is a net gain, more field trials should be performed on other vegetables/crops in order to get the farmers more convinced to use BSFL-compost.
