NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — When Benson Wanjala started farming in his village in western Kenya 25 years ago, his 10-acre farm could produce a bumper crop of 200 bags of corn. That number has dwindled to 30. He says his once-fertile land has become a near-lifeless field that can no longer sustain him.
Like many other farmers, he blames acidifying fertilisers applied in Kenya and other African countries in recent years. He said he started using them to boost his yields, and they worked – until they didn’t. The Kenyan government first introduced a fertiliser subsidy in 2008, making chemical fertilisers more accessible to smaller farmers.
About 63% of arable land in Kenya is now acidic, according to the agriculture ministry, which is reporting a decline in the production of staples such as maize, leading to horticulture and tea exports. Maize production is set to fall by 4% to 44 million tonnes in 2022, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, but it did not say why.
The agriculture ministry has not responded to questions, particularly after the fake fertiliser scandal in April. The fertiliser was found to be quarry soil in misleadingly labelled bags distributed to farmers through a national subsidy programme. President William Ruto said about 7,000 farmers had purchased the fake fertiliser and would be compensated with the correct product.
As the African continent struggles to feed itself, soil health problems are growing. Africa has 65% of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, but spends around $60 billion a year importing food, according to the African Development Bank. The spending is projected to rise to $110 billion by 2025 due to rising demand and changing consumption habits.
Kenya hosted a cross-Africa soil health summit in May to discuss declining production, climate change and other issues raising food security concerns. Agriculture is a major part of Kenya’s economy, accounting for more than a quarter of GDP.
East African Farmers Federation Executive Director Stephen Muchiri, at the summit, advocated a return to traditional farming practices to regenerate lifeless soils, including planting a variety of crops and minimizing soil disturbance.
“Inorganic fertilizers were never considered the basis of crop production,” he said, adding, “because of commercial farming, our soils are now poor, acidic, low in biomass resources and devoid of life!”
The expert said that farmers should rotate their land and get compost material from animals such as goats, adding, “There needs to be some kind of transition and adaptation process for our lands to become fertile again.”
Experts say soil acidity leads to soil degradation by reducing the availability of plants and essential nutrients, making the soil more vulnerable to structural degradation and erosion.
Bridget Mugambe, programme coordinator for the Africa Food Sovereignty Alliance, recommended phasing out chemical fertilisers.
“Soil health goes beyond the quick fixes provided by chemical fertilisers. In fact, chemical fertilisers have done great damage to our soils in Africa. We need to think about our soils more holistically,” he said.
The African Union’s soil health summit in 2006, which had advised its members to use more chemical fertilisers, adopted a 10-year plan to increase investment in producing both organic and chemical fertilisers locally and to triple their use to increase production.
Speaking at the summit, African Union Agriculture Commissioner Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko claimed that the continent was “losing $4 billion worth of soil nutrients every year.”
Kenya is heavily dependent on imported fertilisers due to low local production. The main supplier is the European Union, followed by Saudi Arabia and Russia.
John Macharia, Kenya director of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, said that the recent fertiliser scandal in Kenya should not discourage farmers.
“It’s still essential that we work with the government to ensure that the right fertilizers come to our stores,” Macharia said. He recommended both chemical and organic fertilizers as long as they address the specific problem in the soil, and said soil analysis would guide farmers.
The decline in soil quality is a concern for food security across Africa.
In Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, about 70% of soils are acidic, according to the government. The government has introduced chemical fertilisers in the past to strengthen soils, but misuse has led to a decline in organic matter.
“Before the introduction of mineral fertilisers, our ancestors had the knowledge and understanding that if you added organic fertiliser, the soil would become fertile and the crops would perform better,” says Wonder Ngezimana, an associate professor of plant science at the Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Zimbabwe. “This was the traditional norm in Zimbabwe and other parts of Africa, where people were looking for any kind of organic matter to add to the soil.”
These include animal manure, grass, leaves and branches, crop residues, ash and compost. But many farmers in Zimbabwe no longer have cattle because of the recent drought, Ngezimana said. “Farmers are struggling to maintain soil health because they can’t produce enough organic matter.”
AGRA recommended farmers to test the acidity of their soil and apply lime to reverse high acidity.
But farmers say both are limited and costly. Soil-testing services are available from government agricultural agencies, public universities and private institutions for $20 to $40.
Farmer Wanjala said he could not even afford to feed cattle for fertiliser and could only find money for seeds.
“I can’t afford any more expenses,” he said.
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Farai Mutsaka from Harare, Zimbabwe contributed to this report.
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