These South African students are a CUT above the rest

How many worms does it take to bring down a black soldier fly? Too many, in the case of South Africa’s Central University of Technology (CUT). Having won a national competition for social enterprise, the Bloemfontein institution’s students fell short at the recent international final in the Netherlands. 

CUT won the local Enactus competition with a worm-farming programme that has the potential to improve soil quality in regions that traditionally struggle to support crops. In the Free State, says CUT, the agricultural sector is held back by poor soil quality, nutrient deficiency, rising agricultural input costs and unsustainable farming methods. 

Worms, it says, are the organic, sustainable answer. Letting them loose on organic waste, much of it supplied by waste management companies, will provide rich compost to revitalise “dead” soil. In addition to its own “vermiculture”, CUT is also promoting the concept to local government, schools and various community groups. This was the second year in a row that a CUT project has won the South African leg of Enactus.

Enactus is a global network that encourages young people to use innovation and entrepreneurship to solve global problems through sustainable social enterprise. South Africa was one of 29 countries to hold national competitions, then send their winners to the world cup in Utrecht.

The winner was Egypt’s Kafr El Sheikh University, with another project to promote sustainable agriculture. In its case, students are extracting protein from black soldier flies, which feed on food waste, for use in fish, poultry and cattle feed. This, says the university, “offers solutions for long-term development by providing safe, effective and low-cost fodder”. It adds that the protein also has pharmaceutical uses. 

This was the fifth successive year that an Egyptian university has won the Enactus world cup. 

Ironically, CUT beat out another black soldier fly scheme on its way to winning in South Africa. The University of the Free State’s QwaQwa campus says the fly larvae is an alternative source of feed for livestock farmers. It says the scheme, called Project Biofly Pro, “promotes climate-smart agriculture practices and focuses on generating profits from what is generally considered waste”. 

Enactus entries are judged not only on innovation but also on entrepreneurial leadership, use of business principles, and their sustainable impact on people and the environment. 

In other words, a good idea is not enough in itself. It must be proved to work. Entries are judged on the progress over the previous year. 

CUT made it to the last 16 of the world cup. Those that didn’t included representatives of the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands and China.