Advancing tomato waste upcycling: Reflections from a research visit at Justus Liebig University (JlU), Giessen

In November 2025, Dr Pearl Lefadola had the privilege of being a Research Visitor at Justus Liebig University (JLU) in Giessen, Germany. The research visit marked an important milestone in my ongoing work on upcycling tomato waste within Botswana's food supply chains.

As a scholar working at the intersection of food systems, sustainability, and consumer science, her research seeks to address a persistent yet often overlooked challenge in our food supply chain: the substantial volume of tomato waste generated at various points along the chain. This waste represents lost income for traders and farmers, contributes to environmental pressures, and highlights inefficiencies within the broader food system. Her visit to JLU provided an opportunity to situate this local challenge within global conversations on circular food systems, sustainability transitions, and inclusive bioeconomy innovation.

During her time at JLU, she participated in collaborative meetings with faculty members and researchers affiliated with the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (ZNE). These discussions were intellectually enriching and strategically important. This enabled participants to explore opportunities between her work on upcycling tomato waste in Botswana and ongoing research initiatives focused on sustainable agri-food systems in Europe.

The visit reinforced the principle of equitable international collaboration. While European institutions may have more established circular-economy infrastructure, African contexts offer critical insights into adaptive resilience, informal market systems, and community-based innovation.

Participants examined how circular economy principles are operationalised across different contexts and reflected on their implications for emerging economies, where informal markets and small-scale enterprises dominate food distribution networks. The exchange reinforced the importance of designing context-sensitive models that do not simply transfer high-income country solutions but instead adapt them to local socio-economic and infrastructural realities.

A highlight of the visit was her participation in a conference that brought together scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from across Europe and Africa to work on diverse aspects of sustainable food systems. Participating in this forum allowed her to engage in cutting-edge debates and to position her research on tomato waste upcycling within broader interdisciplinary discussions.

Dr Lefadola reports that it was particularly valuable to observe how sustainability challenges are framed across different regions and to contribute insights from the African context. The dialogue reinforced that while food waste is a global issue, its drivers and solutions are deeply shaped by local economic structures, cultural practices, and policy environments.

Her host was the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC). The interdisciplinary environment of GCSC provided me with an ideal intellectual space to critically engage with theoretical frameworks, comparative methodologies and transdisciplinary debates that connect local empirical realities in global challenges.

Dr Pearl Lefadola during her visit to Justus Liebig University (JLU) in Giessen, Germany.

The research stay enabled her to refine her theoretical framing and expand her methodological toolkit by engaging with experts and peers in sociological and food sustainability research. The visit also strengthened the conceptual framing of tomato waste upcycling as more than a technical intervention. Rather than focusing narrowly on product transformation, she now increasingly views upcycling as a socio-economic and environmental strategy embedded within circular food systems.

In Botswana, many tomato traders, particularly women operating in informal markets, face challenges related to storage, price volatility, and post-harvest losses. Upcycling offers a pathway to extend shelf life, create new income streams, and reduce vulnerability to climate variability. However, for such initiatives to succeed, they must be supported by appropriate policy frameworks, access to training, and small enterprise development mechanisms. The conversations at JLU deepened her appreciation of how interdisciplinary collaboration can support the design of such integrated approaches.

Importantly, the visit also reinforced the principle of equitable international collaboration. While European institutions may have more established circular-economy infrastructure, African contexts offer critical insights into adaptive resilience, informal market systems, and community-based innovation.

Her work contributes to this global dialogue by foregrounding the realities of food systems in Botswana and by advocating for solutions that are socially inclusive and economically accessible. The partnerships initiated during this visit provide a foundation for co-produced research that values diverse knowledge systems and promotes mutual learning.

Research visit report by Dr Pearl Lefadola reworked for publication by Leti Kleyn.