Utilization of Coffee Husk and Pulp Waste as Soil Amendment. A Review

Coffee is one of the most valuable primary products in the world trade, and also a central and popular part of our culture and the crop is cultivated in about 80 countries across the globe and entangles huge business worldwide. Industrial coffee production involves either a dry or a wet processing method for the removal of the shell and mucilaginous parts from the cherries resulting in the production of coffee husk and pulp, respectively. These main by-products generated by the coffee processing plants and are disposed into arable land and surface water causing environmental pollution due to presence of toxic materials such as caffeine and tannins. To contribute to safe disposal of solid biomass waste in coffee processing many research was conducted to assess the opportunities and challenges of expanded use of solid waste from coffee processing in energy and agricultural services in across coffee producing countries. Therefore the objective of this review was to summarize the literatures and the current knowledge on the utilization of coffee husk and pulp waste for soil amendment, for sustainable agricultural systems within small-scale farming in developing countries like Ethiopia, using these easily available materials as good option for developing plant-nutrient management strategies in highly weathered soil area.