Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorVogel, S.
dc.date.accessioned2022-10-07T13:50:20Z
dc.date.available2022-10-07T13:50:20Z
dc.date.issued2020-05-15
dc.identifier.citationVogel, S. (2020).The role of knowledge in the acceptance of organic and human waste recycling: the case of Rwanda's food system. Zurich, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, (84 p.).
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12478/7855
dc.description.abstractBy 2050, the world’s population is expected to increase to 9 billion people. The growing population intensifies urbanization, which puts pressure on the current challenges of food insecurity and environmental pollution. In Rwanda, rural migration and the lack of financial capital to apply sufficient fertilizer result in nutrient-deficient agricultural soils which lead to a decrease in food production. Moreover, the rapid urban expansion leads to environmental pollution and human health risks from inadequate sanitation and waste management. The loss of nutrients in the agricultural fields is a consequence of the rapid urban expansion since the food is mainly consumed in the cities. The waste produced from food consumption (organic and human waste) is not managed properly and leads to nutrient accumulation in the urban environment. A circular economy (CE) in Rwanda’s food system approaches to counteract the nutrient imbalance in the rural-urban interface. The project RUNRES – Rural-Urban-Nexus: Establishing a nutrient loop to improve city region food system resilience, aims to capture the waste streams in the food value chain (FVC) to keep the nutrients in the system and reuse it in agriculture. Strategies thereof are organic waste recycling (OWR) and human waste recycling (HWR) into fertilizer that returns the nutrients back to the soil. However, these strategies first need to be socially accepted for their successful implementation. Knowledge is considered a crucial factor that influences acceptance of CE strategies. This master thesis investigates the role of knowledge in the acceptance of OWR and HWR in Rwanda’s food system. For this purpose, expert interviews are conducted to qualitatively assess the local circumstances. Furthermore, a survey is performed with 185 respondents including farmers, people from the waste sector as well as public sector to quantitatively measure their knowledge and acceptance regarding OWR and HWR. The results show that these stakeholders are knowledgeable and already accept OWR and HWR in Rwanda’s food system. The statistical analyses further show a relationship between knowledge and acceptance of OWR and HWR. Knowledge significantly positively correlates with acceptance, and furthermore, this acceptance is significantly predicted by knowledge. This research contributes to understand the implementation of OWR and HWR in order to achieve a CE in Rwanda’s food system. The findings illustrate that knowledge is essential for acceptance of OWR and HWR in order to implement a CE nutrient cycle in the food system. Thus, practitioners should consider increasing knowledge where acceptance is lacking. This research raises the importance to further identify the role of knowledge in the acceptance of CE strategies among all stakeholders involved in the rural-urban food system. Finally, a step toward a CE in Rwanda’s food system is achieved, which reduces waste and pollution by reusing the resources in agriculture in order to improve food security.
dc.format.extent84p.
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSwiss Federal Institute of Technology
dc.subjectFood Security
dc.subjectFood Systems
dc.subjectRecycling
dc.subjectPollution
dc.subjectFertilizers
dc.subjectNutrient Deficiencies
dc.subjectKnowledge
dc.subjectFarmers
dc.titleThe role of knowledge in the acceptance of organic and human waste recycling: the case of Rwanda's food system
dc.typeThesis
cg.contributor.affiliationSwiss Federal Institute of Technology
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.coverage.regionEast Africa
cg.coverage.countryRwanda
cg.coverage.hubEastern Africa Hub
cg.identifier.bibtexciteidVOGEL:2020a
cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and advanced research institute
cg.iitasubjectAgronomy
cg.iitasubjectCapacity Development
cg.iitasubjectFarming Systems
cg.iitasubjectFood Security
cg.iitasubjectFood Systems
cg.iitasubjectKnowledge Management
cg.iitasubjectNutrition
cg.iitasubjectPlant Production
cg.iitasubjectSmallholder Farmers
cg.iitasubjectSoil Fertility
cg.notesIITA supervisor: Dr. Haruna Sekabira
cg.publicationplaceZurich, Switzerland
cg.accessibilitystatusLimited Access
cg.reviewstatusPeer Review
cg.usagerightslicenseCopyrighted; all rights reserved
cg.targetaudienceScientists
cg.futureupdate.requiredNo
cg.contributor.acknowledgementsThis master thesis could not have been performed without the assistance, patience and support of many individuals. Especially, I appreciate the collaboration with the RUNRES project, ETH Zurich and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Kigali. I would like to extend my gratitude first and foremost to my thesis supervisors Dr. Leonhard Späth and Dr. Pius Krütli from ETH Zurich for mentoring and guiding me over the course of this project. Their competences, constructive advices as well as their honesty made a great contribution to my progress from the beginning. Furthermore, I would also like to extend my deepest appreciation to IITA in Kigali. My gratitude especially goes to my supervisor Dr. Haruna Sekabira for supporting my project in Rwanda. His advices as well as his trust and believe in my research gave me the possibility to conduct my field work in Rwanda. I would additionally like to thank Speciose Kantengwa for sharing her experiences and contacts that contributed to a successful field research in Kamonyi District; Sandra Gatete and Betty Kigenza for their administrative support as well as their help in organizing my stay and research in Rwanda; Hyacinthe Nyirahabimana for her translation to Kinyarwanda; and Dr. Marc Schut for the possibility to conduct my research at IITA in Kigali. Special thanks to Emma Uwera and Gilbert Micomyiza for their excellent translation during the survey, their patience and great motivation. Together with Michel they made my field work an exceptional experience and overwhelming success. My deepest thanks to all the experts that participated in my research for sharing their thoughts and knowledge, and to all respondents of the survey for their great interest and motivation. This research would not have been possible without their great contribution. I would additionally like to thank my friends Manuel Stamm for the enthusiastic discussions, his patience and feedbacks, and Helen Thut for the detailed feedback and proofreading. Furthermore, many thanks to my family and friends for their support and belief in me. I also really appreciate my friends in Rwanda which gave me lovely insights into their lives and cultures. Murakoze cyane, Thank you.


Files in this item

Thumbnail

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record