Pilot composting in Ethiopia: soil fertility, ecology and rural development Due to extensive use of artificial fertilizer, the soil in the region Ziway has become exhausted, while on the other hand about 85% of the people are dependent on agriculture for their employment. The result is decreasing yields for the farmers which they try to compensate by using even more intensive farming methods. Soil & More, daughter company of Rhea Holding BV (applicant) has set up a joint venture with Farm Organic International Plc (local partner). The core business of the joint venture is the sustainable and economically-viable production of a high quality and environmentally-friendly compost.The partners produce commercial quantities of compost using the green waste of roses. The partners get these input from rose farmers in the region of Ziway, turn this into organic compost within eight to ten weeks, and sell this to the same rose farmers and other private farmers, small-holder farmers, coops and unions.There is no other existing organic composting plant in Ethiopia which produces organic compost with the proposed technology of Controlled Microbial Composting (CMC).Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)Besides the environmental impact of the project the joint venture implements a CSR policy that contains social standards, including a gender policy, employment standards, working manuals on "salary and wages", working conditions (health and safety programme), rural development (during the implementation of the project a parallel farmer support programme has run together with local NGOs). Further, the production process operates on the level of Eco Cert.Impact•	Employment and working conditionsAt the end of the pilot project, the amount of full-time employees is around 40 people. Five of them work in the management of the composting facility and 35 people are employed as production employees, operating the machines, trucking, loading and other type of work.Two years after ending the project the amount of employees will be 60. The wages will be at least 10% higher than the minimum level of Ethiopia.The joint venture will uses HRM policy, which includes working conditions like limited working hours and HIV/AIDS preventing programme.•	Innovation/Transfer of knowledgeThe knowledge of organic farming and composting is not well developed in Ethiopia. The technical knowledge about composting and organic farming and skills acquired for the production of compost is new. Also, the joint venture has introduced working conditions based on Western standards. Furthermore, the management is trained based on Western standards in accounting, monitoring and technicalities. The project has raised environmental awareness. Besides the influence on the direct employees of the compost site, local farmers have visited the production facility and also 200 small holder farmers were trained in sustainable farming.•	Chain effectsThe raw materials come from the 8 rose farmers, whose waste problem will be solved. The customers, private sectors, coops union also benefit from the project because their yields increased by using the organic compost for their land.•	EnvironmentThe joint venture applies a biological process. Obviously this project has a positive impact on the environment since the use of chemicals and pesticides is reduced. Also, the enormous amounts of waste which are currently being dumped and start emitting methane, a greenhouse gas which is a lot stronger than CO2, is reduced. SMI designed a composting system that complies with UN standards for CO2-emission reduction projects. Another big problem, which is being addressed in this project is the increasing water scarcity. The farmers save significantly on their water irrigation using the organic compost which will be produced by the joint venture.•	Position of womenWomen are hired in technical, administrative and laboratory positions whenever possible. Emphasis is given to the development of knowledge and skills of women. Setting up a composting plant to produce organic compost with a maximum production capacity of 40,000 m3 organic compost per year and sell this organic compost to farmers, coops and unions in the region of Ziway.