This study aims to find out about homemade liquid organic fertilizer formulations and safe use in relation to organic pineapple farming in Rwanda. This follows the results of the earlier baseline study that identified knowledge gaps, needs and priorities of value chain actors for pineapple in Rwanda under the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative Project (EOA). The baseline highlighted gaps in accessibility and availability of organic fertilizers, the appropriate formulations of organic fertilizers, the specific crop application, time and frequency of application. In the traditional farming systems, organic farmers usually prepare homemade organic fertilizers by using local natural resources without any scientific evidence. This could be questionable to the researchers as the scientific evidence of their efficacy and safety may not be available or accessible to the users. Therefore, to come up with scientific facts, the present study has carried out scientific research on various raw materials used by farmers to prepare organic fertilizers. These are as follows: Mexican sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia), fish bean (Tephrosia vogelii), wooden ash, cow dung, cow urine and water. In conclusion, the results showed the effectiveness of homemade liquid organic fertilizers with great success in boosting the vegetative growth of the crop of pineapple.

Keywords: Liquid organic fertilizers, indigenous knowledge, pineapple crop, conventional extraction