This month we mark International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction on September 29, This day serves as a reminder of one of the greatest paradoxes in our global food system: while millions face food insecurity, vast amounts of food are wasted every day. This challenge cuts across borders, from Nigeria to Australia, and emphasises the need for solutions that value resources, empower communities and strengthen resilience. In this piece we share the story of Comfort Onyaga, an emerging global food security leader and LOCCAL member whose work bridges continents and champions community-led change.

Comfort is an international student at Murdoch University who is studying for a Master of Food Security. Comfort has a background in political science from Nigeria and has already founded a nonprofit focused on livelihood enhancement and policy advocacy. Our conversation touched on her journey from critiquing Eurocentric development models to championing development projects and interventions instead of homegrown, community-led solutions; her shift into climate-focused entrepreneurship and private sector development; and her hands-on work in student on-campus gardening and community gardens since arriving in Australia. Much like what the Local Community Compost Alliance (LOCCAL) stands for – to support, connect, and strengthen community-led initiatives – Comfort is dedicated to creating systems that empower local people and centre Indigenous knowledge in building more resilient food futures.

At Murdoch, Comfort has brought these values to life by activating a student garden and joining a local community garden, as well as engaging with large-scale farming to better understand the Australian context. She speaks passionately about “learning by doing” and about the importance of leadership that nurtures innovation rather than imposes one-size-fits-all solutions. For her, food security cannot be divorced from cultural integrity, climate resilience, and local empowerment.

Again, in many ways, her approach mirrors LOCCAL’s aims: creating spaces where communities take ownership of solutions, recognising the value of local know-how, and weaving together a diverse patchwork of initiatives that strengthen resilience. Comfort’s story is a reminder that meaningful change often begins at the community level, with people willing to test ideas, build connections, and lead with both courage and humility.

After graduating from university in Nigeria in 2014, Comfort began to question the Eurocentric development theories taught in her undergraduate degree. “They don’t fit the Nigerian or African context,” she told her lecturer. That early insight sparked a passion for building homegrown solutions and rejecting the idea that development must come from the outside.

Soon after graduating, she launched a nonprofit, CLICE Foundation, focused on livelihood enhancement and policy advocacy, working directly with fishers in coastal communities and farmers in Nigeria to co-create practical, community-led solutions. She facilitated access to post-harvest technology, reduced food loss and waste, and promoted adaptive, community-responsive strategies (even when donors preferred top-down approaches). Comfort rejects the idea of simply ‘ticking boxes’. Rather it’s about understanding the root causes and shifting power to local people in order to address these systemic constraints to development. This reframes development and sustainability as participatory, place-based processes and creates the conditions for communities to thrive by providing not just services, but support structures such as advocacy, education and access to technology and tools.

Comfort’s turning point came in 2019, when she joined the Global Food Security Forum. There she read a USAID policy statement which stated that they planned to put an end to aid in Africa by 2025, and the development strategy was by Private Sector Development (PSD) and the need for co-investment. She realised at that point that she needed to act and launched a climate-focused startup, applying her leadership and innovation skills to sustainable enterprise rather than solely relying on aid from donors.

In 2024, Comfort began her studies at Murdoch University in Western Australia, as a recipient of the Australia Awards Scholarship, drawn by its Food Security program. Though she had supported farmers back home, she had never grown food herself. So, true to her values, she got involved in a local community garden and began learning by doing. When she noticed a neglected garden in her campus housing, she promptly organised, asked questions, and set out to activate it as a vibrant community space with support from her university, through the competitive Students as Change Agents Initiative.

Speaking on a student panel, Comfort articulated a vision that will resonate with many in the LOCCAL community: that sustainability in education must go beyond theory: “I haven’t met one Australian farmer in class,” she said. “How can I understand the food system if I don’t interact with it on the ground?” That single comment opened doors to meet farmers, visit wheat and canola fields in the WA Wheatbelt, and connect with the food system firsthand.

Comfort’s journey is still unfolding, but her commitment to centering community voices and reshaping the global food systems is already making an impact. She contributes to global and national discussions on platforms such as the United Nations – Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN-FAO) World Food Forum in Rome, as a keynote speaker, and  in Nigeria through webinars and is developing an Indigenous Community of Practice (I-COP) to share climate-smart practices with farmers and agricultural organisations, strengthening food security at home as part of her Reintegration Action Plan (RAP) with the goal of strengthening bilateral ties between Australia and Nigeria.

In Australia and abroad, Comfort has built a strong network of peers and mentors. She represented Murdoch University at the International Food & Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) Global Student Case Competition in Spain, where her team placed second for innovative solutions to food security challenges, served as a judge in the same competition the following year in Brazil, and  became the manager of the IFAMA Global Venture Building Challenge – coordinating the online Student Case Competition. She is also a member of the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES), Australia’s Future Farmers Network, Secretary of the United Nations Association of Australia, Western Australia’s (UNAA-WA) Environment Committee, and serves on IFAMA Global’s Young Professionals Board.

Comfort’s work demonstrates that meaningful change begins at the community level, with collaboration, leadership, and hands-on engagement shaping more resilient food systems. Her mission is not only to “feed the world, but to fix the system that keeps it hungry” and her journey also shines a light on one of the biggest paradoxes of our time: the coexistence of food insecurity and food waste. In both Nigeria and Australia, people go hungry while edible food is lost or discarded – a reminder that solving food security is not only about producing more, but about valuing what we already have.

Comfort is currently seeking support for quarterly webinars where LOCCAL members in Australia can share knowledge, exchange ideas, and contribute to strategies that address food security challenges in urban Nigerian communities as part of the Indigenous Community of Practice (I-CoP) she has established. This aims to connect farmers, organisations, and international allies around climate-smart practices and food security solutions. If you would like to get in touch with her about being involved contact us at info@loccal.org and we will connect you with her.