Brand Name: LONO

During Innovations Session n°6, Kombo Ekra Noël N’guessan, Head of Operations and R&D, presented LONO, an environmental engineering company based in Côte d’Ivoire, which offers products and services for converting organic waste into organic fertilizers and bioenergy. LONO contributes to restoring the soil biosphere and improving the lithosphere’s contribution to crops through the use of new soil fertilization methods. Its offer is particularly well suited to the needs of smallholder farmers in West Africa.

LONO develops and operates industrial compost and biopesticide production facilities, as well as compact, self-contained systems for on-site transformation of organic waste into compost or cooking gas. These systems, marketed under the KubeKo brand, can be installed on plantations, processing sites or even gardens. The installation of such a composter enables farmers to earn between 200 and 300 USD in additional income! More than 90 compact composters and biodigesters have been installed in Côte d’Ivoire between 2021 and 2023. To promote their use, LONO organises demonstrations and training for future KubeKo users. Since 2020, LONO has also set up more than 90 demonstration plots across Côte d’Ivoire, in particular to teach the joint use of compost and solid soil activator for growing vegetables, fruit and food crops.

At its first industrial site, operating under the BioYAM brand, LONO transforms 350 tonnes of agro-industrial waste per month into compost, enriched with beneficial microorganisms, and biochar for the needs of the cocoa, cotton, fruit and vegetable industries in Côte d’Ivoire. A second plant is scheduled to open in 2024, with the aim of establishing 6 plants in the sub-region by 2028. LONO is also developing its activities outside Africa, notably in partnership with the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery in France.

To develop its activities, LONO has benefited from technical and financial support from several partners, including COLEAD, the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Netherlands Enterprise Agency), the Kingdom of Belgium (King Baudouin Foundation), IFAD and GIZ Côte d’Ivoire. LONO has created such a network of partners by taking part in many events (conferences, trade fairs, training courses, etc.) and competitions, as well as responding to calls for tender. Following his intervention at the Innovations Session n°6, Noël took part in the European Development Days in Brussels, Belgium, in June 2022, notably as a panelist at the session on “Catalyzing the success of young agri-entrepreneurs”, organised by COLEAD. In the same year, Noël spoke at a side event on “The contribution of agroecology to climate change adaptation and CSA (Climate-Smart Agriculture)” at the Second Biennial Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture in Africa, in Accra, Ghana. These events helped strengthen LONO’s network in West Africa, notably with agricultural players in Burkina Faso and Ghana, and with the BOAD (West African Development Bank).

Find out more about LONO on the following pages:

• Business profile
• Session Innovations n°6