Biochar-based Fertilizer on the ACS2 Agenda

18.09.2025

Competition for the attention of delegates and participants was very high during the Africa Climate Summit 2 organised by the African Union. Against this background, Lire Abiyo (Ministry of Agriculture, Ethiopia) and his team nevertheless managed to organise an official side event on digital tools for geographic biomass screening, on soil amendment and agricultural yield gains with biochar-based fertilizer. Within the framework of the ETH-Soil project, several DBFZ-teams were supporting these efforts on behalf of the Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ) since 2021.

Mulugeta Abera (Ministry of Agriculture) opened the event at 8:30 a.m. on 10 September 2025 (while hundreds of ACS2 participants still lined up at the Summit’s security check points). The first presentations by Milkiyas Ahmed (PhD) and Zakir AbaBor from Jimma University highlighted the potentials biochar-based fertilizers and bonechar to act as an effective phosphor fertilizer. Following, Woubalem Abera (Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, OARI) reported on the progress with respect to the creation of an Atlas of Agricultural Residues. The OARI Director General, Teshome Bogala Soboka, linked the potential of residues to the Oromia Region’s efforts in biochar-based fertilizer production. He pointed out how development cooperation with Germany was helpful and what remains to be done at the Ethiopian and regional level to achieve the certification of carbon sequestration to soils.

This question was also dealt with in parallel at the Team-Europe Pavilion where DBFZ had organised a panel discussion on access to voluntary carbon markets based on biochar application to soils. The joint photo with organizers and experts of both events is a showcase of the multi-stakeholder partnership on the advancement of biochar-based fertilizer as a potentially transformative innovation in Africa.