Short answer: A layered pit is the simplest way to turn a mixed farm's waste into compost. Build it from dry residues at the bottom, add green material and dung in thin layers, keep it as damp as a wrung-out sponge, and turn it at about three weeks and again around two months. Most pits are usable within three to four months in warm weather, and the test for readiness is the feel and smell of the material, not a thermometer.
Key takeaways
- Mixed farm waste composts well when you layer dry residues, green matter and dung in thin, alternating bands.
- Keep the material damp in the way a wrung-out sponge is damp. Too dry it stalls, too wet it turns sour and smelly.
- Dry cassava peel in the sun before it goes in, and keep seeded weeds and perennial grass rhizomes out of the pit.
- Turn the pit at about three weeks and again around two months, then leave it to finish under cover.
- A finished pit is dark, crumbly and earthy, with no straw or peel you can still recognise.
The corner where the waste goes
The maize stalks go onto the fire, the cassava peel goes to the goats if they are lucky, and the weeds get pulled and left in a pile at the field edge to dry in the sun and then blow about. Walk round a mixed farm in the Central or Eastern Region and you will find several of these piles, each one a small loss of nutrients the farm paid for in seed, labour and rain.
Composting turns that loss into something you can put back on the land. It is the same basic process a forest floor uses, sped up by water, air and a good mix of materials. Nothing about it needs a laboratory. It needs a pit, some patience and a habit of adding the waste as it comes rather than waiting for a big clearing.
This article is about the mixed farm: crop residues, kitchen scraps, weeds, and the dung from goats or sheep. It takes a different route from composting poultry litter, which is a dense, wet and nitrogen-heavy material that needs its own handling. Our composting poultry litter article covers that route in full, so use it for the bird side of the farm.
What goes in, what needs pre-treating, and what stays out
Almost everything that was once alive will compost, but some materials need a little preparation and others should never be allowed near the pit. The table below sorts the common farm waste into those three groups, based on common extension advice for small mixed farms.
| Material | Role in the pit | Pre-treatment or caution |
|---|---|---|
| Maize stalks and husks | Dry, carbon-rich bulk | Chop or crush them so they break down faster |
| Groundnut and cowpea haulm | Dry, with some nitrogen | Keep it dry and free of mould before it goes in |
| Cassava peel | Starchy, bulky | Sun-dry it first, because fresh peel is high in cyanogenic compounds |
| Vegetable trimmings and fruit skins | Green, nitrogen-rich | Mix them into the dry layers so they do not turn to slime |
| Kitchen scraps | Green, quick to break down | No cooked meat, bones, fish or oil, which bring rats and smell |
| Goat and sheep dung with bedding | Nitrogen and microbes | Use it in thin layers, not as a single heap |
| Non-seeded weeds | Green material | Only once the weeds are wilted and before they set seed |
| Seeded weeds and perennial grass rhizomes | None | Keep them out, because the seed and rhizomes survive and spread |
| Plastic, glass and metal | None | Remove them, or the compost will be full of litter |
Speargrass and other grasses with running underground stems are the material farmers ask about most. Their rhizomes can survive a cool pit and sprout in the field when the compost goes on. Dig them out and dispose of them away from the pit, or let them dry fully on a hard surface in the sun before they go anywhere near the heap.
Choosing the pit site
Put the pit where the water goes away from it. A pit dug in a hollow will fill after the first heavy storm, and wet waste at the bottom turns into a smelly soup. Look for firm ground on a gentle slope, with the rain running off the top side. Keep it clear of the well, the latrine and the path to the house.
Shade helps in the north. A pit under the edge of a tree or on the shady side of a store keeps the material from drying out in the harmattan and the dry-season sun. In the forest zone, the opposite problem applies. The pit gets too much rain, so give it a roof of corrugated sheet or palm leaves, or at least a cover of dry grass that you can pull over it in a downpour.
Think about access. You will be walking to the pit with a wheelbarrow or a basket every few days for the first month. A site a long way from the kitchen and the field gets neglected, and an unused pit is just a hole in the ground. Put it where your routine already takes you.
Digging and setting up the pit
A workable pit is about a metre deep, with a length and width sized to the waste you produce in a season. A pit two metres long and a metre and a half wide holds a good amount of material from one farm, and it is easy to turn with a fork. Make the sides as vertical as the soil allows, and pack the floor so the bottom does not sink unevenly.
A lining is not essential on most soils. A rough wall of stones, a few bricks or old tyres helps keep the sides from falling in, and it makes the pit easier to turn. Where the soil is very sandy, the sides will need more support. Where the soil is clay and holds water, a shallow bottom drain or a layer of coarse stone at the base can help the pit drain without losing its moisture.
Put a few stakes or a length of bamboo in the middle of the pit before you fill it. You can pull these out after each turn to check the temperature and moisture by feel, and they help you remember where the centre of the heap is when the pile has settled.
Layering: the order that keeps the pit working
Build the pit in layers, not by tipping in whatever you collected last. Start with a 15 centimetre band of dry, coarse material such as maize stalks, cassava stems or dry haulm. This layer lets air move in from the bottom. On top of it, spread a thin band of green material, a mix of weeds, peel and trimmings, about five centimetres deep. Add a thin scatter of dung and bedding. Finish each cycle with a light sprinkle of soil or dry grass, which keeps the flies away and holds the moisture in.
Repeat the cycle until the pit reaches about 60 centimetres above the ground. A mound that rises above the surface sheds rain better, and it leaves enough material to settle as the compost breaks down. Water each layer as you go, enough that the material is damp all the way through but not dripping. Dry layers that are not watered stall the process, and the pit sits still for weeks.
Keep the balance roughly even. Too much green material gives you a wet, smelly pit that breaks down slowly and attracts flies. Too much dry bulk gives you a pit that never warms up and never finishes. If the pit smells of ammonia or rotten eggs, add more dry material and turn it. If it is dry and grey and nothing is happening, add green material and water.
The squeeze test for moisture
Thermometers are not how most small farms judge a pit, and we will not pretend a heap is ready on a number you cannot measure. Use the squeeze test instead. Take a handful from the middle of the pit and squeeze it hard. A good pit leaves a few drops in your palm and holds its shape when you open your hand. If nothing comes out, it is too dry. If water runs through your fingers, it is too wet. If the handful falls apart at once and smells sour, it has gone too wet and needs air.
In the dry months, you will spend more time watering. Carry water in a bucket or a drum with a tap and wet each layer as you add it, and check the pit again a week later. Rain can soak a pit faster than you expect, so after a heavy shower check the top and sides, and cover the pit if the water is sitting on the surface.
Air matters as much as water. A pit that is packed too tight will go anaerobic, and that is the source of the bad smell. Turning the pit breaks up the packing, and a few pole holes pushed into the centre let air reach the middle between turns.
Turning on a simple schedule
Turn the pit at about three weeks, then again around two months, and leave it to finish after that. Each turn means forking the material from one side of the pit to the other, pulling the outer dry parts into the middle and the damp middle to the outside. This mixes the layers and brings the dry parts into contact with moisture and microbes.
At each turn, check the moisture by the squeeze test and add water if the material is dry. Break up any clumps of wet dung or peel that have stuck together, because they stay sour in the middle. If a patch smells strong, mix in more dry material and turn it again. A pit that is turned on time and kept moist will usually smell earthy by the second turn.
Turning is hard work, and the easiest mistake is to let it slip. A pit that is left for three months without turning will finish, but it will finish slowly and unevenly. The outer layers will be half-rotted and the middle will be fine, or the other way round. Set a date on the calendar for each turn and keep to it.
Cassava peel, weeds and the other trouble spots
Cassava peel is the material that causes the most worry, and rightly so. Fresh peel holds cyanogenic compounds, and a pile of it can release gas and smell badly. Spread it out in the sun on a hard surface, turn it so it dries through, and only then add it to the pit. Dried peel composts reliably and loses the worst of its risk. Do not pile fresh peel on the top of a pit where it can rot in the open.
Weeds come next. Pull them before they set seed, and wilt them in the sun for a day or two before they go into the pit. Anything with seed heads should go somewhere else, and any grass with a white, woody rhizome should be dug out and removed completely. A pit that has been fed weeds with live seed will sprout the seed on the field, and you will spend the next season weeding the same plot.
Rats and dogs are attracted by cooked food, bones, fish and oil. Keep those out of the pit altogether. Flies come to fresh green material that is not covered, so the soil sprinkle at each layer is not optional. If you see maggots, cover the surface, add dry material and turn the pit sooner than planned.
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Telling when the compost is ready
Finished compost is dark brown to black, crumbly in the hand, and smells of wet earth. You should not be able to pick out the straw, the peel or the leaves, and the dung should have broken down into a uniform mass. It should not be hot to the touch in the middle, and it should not give off ammonia when you turn it.
Sieve the compost through a mesh or a rough screen before you use it. The coarse bits go back into the next pit, and the fine fraction goes onto the field or into a bag. A pit that looks ready but is still lumpy in the centre needs another turn or two, and that is normal on a mixed farm where the materials vary.
Store the finished compost under cover, out of the rain, and keep it off the bare ground if you can. Dry compost keeps well, but a heap left in the open washes away its nutrients in a single storm. Label the bag or the heap with the date it was finished.
A worked example: one pit in one dry season
Take a pit two metres long, a metre and a half wide and a metre deep, filled to about 60 centimetres above ground. That is roughly 4 cubic metres of loose material at the start, counting the mound above ground. Compost shrinks as it breaks down, so assume the finished volume is about half of what went in. These are planning assumptions, not measurements from any particular farm, so check them against what your own pit does.
| Stage | Timing (typical, warm weather) | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Build the pit | Week 0 | Dig, line the rim, and start the first layers |
| Fill and water | Weeks 1 to 4 | Add material as it comes, watering every layer |
| First turn | About week 3 after the last layer | Fork the pit, check the squeeze test, water if dry |
| Second turn | About two months from the start | Turn again, break up clumps, check the smell |
| Finish and sieve | About three to four months | Test by feel and smell, sieve, bag or heap under cover |
At the end of this example you have about 2 cubic metres of finished compost. That is enough to dress a small vegetable plot, a few beds of maize, or a set of mango and citrus trees. If the pit took in a lot of dung and very little dry bulk, you will find the finished volume lower and the quality more uneven. Balance matters more than volume.
The labour is in the turns and the watering. A pit like this needs a few hours of work each time you turn it, and a bucket of water a day in the hottest weeks. Write down the date of each turn, the rainfall that week and what you added. In the next season, those notes will tell you where the pit went wrong.
Where farm compost fits beside the poultry
Mixed waste composts best on a plot where a food crop, a few small ruminants and a flock all draw on the same ground. Compost from mixed waste is the simplest way to feed the crop without buying in a bag every season. It also gives the poultry side a use: the litter from the house can go into a separate heap, and the finished product can go on the fields, as long as you keep the two routes apart.
Our guide to using poultry manure covers the drying and handling of bird manure, which is a different job from a mixed-waste pit. Our poultry manure in fish ponds article shows another place where the bird side and the water side meet. Our integrating poultry, crops and fish article lays out the whole farm picture.
Keep the waste records with the poultry records, because the same farm will use both. Our poultry record keeping article sets out the basic logs, and a simple line for compost turns fits neatly into the same notebook.
Worm castings are a different product again, made by worms rather than by a hot pit. Our vermicompost article explains how a bin produces them.
Once the pit has given you finished compost, you can go a step further and blend it into a product for sale or for your own use. Our making organic fertiliser article covers that route, which is a different job from simply composting. Our partner with us page is there if you are planning to work with us on a larger mixed farm.
Planning a flock next to the pit? Start with our day-old chicks range. Use the order section or send a WhatsApp message to +233 24 915 1503 to ask which birds fit your plot. Our chick prices page lists the current starting prices for the birds we hatch.
A checklist for the first pit
Use this list before you dig, and again at each turn. A pit that follows the list rarely goes wrong.
- Choose a site with good drainage, a bit of shade and easy access.
- Dig the pit about a metre deep, with firm sides and a rim to hold the material.
- Sun-dry cassava peel before it goes in.
- Pull weeds before they seed, and remove speargrass rhizomes completely.
- Build in thin alternating layers of dry and green material, with dung in between.
- Water each layer so it feels like a wrung-out sponge.
- Sprinkle soil or dry grass over each layer to keep flies away.
- Turn the pit at about three weeks and again at about two months.
- Test by the squeeze test and the smell, not by guesswork.
- Sieve the finished compost and store it under cover, labelled with the date.
Questions farmers ask
How long does it take to make compost from farm waste in Ghana?
In warm weather, a layered pit with regular turns is usually usable within three to four months. Cooler months, a pit that is short of water, or a heap with lots of dry bulk will take longer. The best guide is the feel and smell of the material. If it still holds recognisable stalk or peel, give it another turn and another few weeks.
Do I need a thermometer to know my compost is working?
Not for a mixed-waste pit on a farm. The squeeze test for moisture, the smell and the look of the material tell you more about what is happening than a reading you cannot interpret without experience. Some farmers use a long metal probe to check the centre, and that is useful if you want to learn, but it is not essential.
Can I put cassava peel straight into the pit?
Fresh cassava peel should be dried in the sun first. Fresh peel is high in cyanogenic compounds and can smell strongly as it rots. Spread it on a hard surface, turn it until it is dry, and then add it in thin layers. Dried peel composts reliably, and you avoid the risk of a sour, gassy pit.
Will weeds from my field come back in the compost?
They can, if the weeds set seed or have underground stems that survive the pit. Pull weeds before they seed, wilt them for a day or two, and keep speargrass rhizomes out altogether. Compost made from clean weeds is safe on the field. Compost made from seeded weeds plants next season's weed problem.
Can I compost goat or sheep dung on its own?
You can, but dung on its own is dense and slow to break down, and it can smell of ammonia when it is wet. Mix it in thin bands with dry crop residues and green trimmings. The mixture composts faster, holds moisture better and gives a more even product.
What do I do if the pit smells bad?
A bad smell usually means too wet, too compacted or too much green material with no dry bulk. Turn the pit, add dry stalks or sawdust if you have them, and water only enough to keep it damp. If the smell is rotten eggs or sewage, the pit is anaerobic, and it needs turning and loosening before it does any harm.
How much compost do I need for my field?
The amount depends on the crop, the soil and what the compost is like. Your agric extension officer can give you a rate for your crop and district. Compost is a soil improver as well as a nutrient source, so it works best when you use it regularly rather than in one large dose. Test your soil if you can, and keep notes on how the crops respond.
