Despite being the backbone of the economy and contributing about 33 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), experts have revealed that there is an 80 per cent gap in agricultural yields due to ‘sick soil’.

According to a report by the Mideva Venture Labs, 13 per cent of Kenyan soil, about 7.5 million hectares, is acidic. Soil acidity affects nutrients availability, microbial activity as well as plant growth which results in reduced crop yields and constrains agricultural production. For a country that is a net importer for foodstuffs such a loss has a major impact on the cost of living and forex losses.

Speaking at the scaling of the local manufacturing of organic fertiliser in Kenya report launch, a practitioner in the sector stated that for farmers to maximise their yields, they need healthy soils and nutrition, adding that inorganic fertilisers only add nutrition to the soil.

Inorganic fertilisers

“If a human is not healthy, it doesn’t matter how much nutrition they give them, they will not grow big and healthy. So, we need to treat ourselves as sick,” he said.

Participants at the launch heard that there is an over-reliance on inorganic fertilisers without improving the soil, making the farmer keep using more and more but getting less and less.

There was an argument that there was no justification as to why a farmer in high potential land growing a maize variety that the research institutions have proven as a potential for growing the variety is going home with little yield.

 “The same is happening in all the crops. So, the challenge is what do we need to do? The first solution is bringing this soil back to life,” an expert stated.

 It is at the back of this that experts in the agriculture sector have called for the prioritisation of soil health, urging farmers to embrace and use organic fertilisers to heal the soil and increase yields.

Healthy soil is essential for successful and sustainable crop production, as it will help enhance nutrient availability, and ultimately increase the farmers’ yields.

In places like Italy their farms are doing well, producing 20 to 30 bags an acre, while in Kenya, we have places like Home Bay that are doing eight bags an acre. Even though we have things like seed and climate that contribute to that, the thing is that local soils are dead and we need to treat them.

 Improved crop yields will ultimately improve the country’s economy, reducing the dependence on food importation, enhancing food security and lowering the country’s poverty rates.

According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Kenya’s food import bill surged 58.4 per cebt to Sh80.2 billion in the first quarter of 2023, compared to Sh 50.6 billion a year earlier, The country imported a higher volume of commodities such as rice, wheat and processed food.