Kenya: Dissenting voices at Nairobi Soil Health Forum over increased fertilizer use
Nairobi – As the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit met in Nairobi to review the progress made in increasing fertilizer use in line with the 2006 Abuja Declaration, experts, practitioners, activists and even government officials pointed out that accelerated fertilizer use may not be the magic bullet for increased food production in Africa.
During the opening ceremony of the summit, the Prime Minister of Kenya, Musalia Mudavadi, who was also the guest of honour, said that in Kenya there are places where fertilizers have been used optimally, but maize yields have stagnated.
“Although fertilizers are estimated to contribute more than 30 percent of crop yields, we have witnessed in our country that fertilizers alone cannot sustain increased agricultural productivity and production,” he said.
Studies have also shown that the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers has had a significant impact on soil acidity in many African countries, which is a major limitation to crop production and the sustainable intensification of smallholder farming systems.
According to an ongoing research project known as Guiding Acid Soil Management Investments in Africa (GAIA), 15 percent of all agricultural land in Africa is affected by acidity problems, and this has led to soil degradation, reduced availability of soil nutrients to plants, and reduced plant production and water use.
According to Dr. George Oduor, a soil scientist and international research consultant, African farmers should now consider or scale up the use of the integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) approach with a focus on return on investment and consider the use of lime on acid soils.
“There is a need for governments in Africa to develop locally responsive tools that can advise farmers on how to combine different organic and inorganic fertilizers, how and when to crop with legumes for nitrogen fixation, and which crops to prioritize in different agro-ecological zones,” Oduor said in an interview with IPS.
However, some activists feel that a complete shift from synthetic fertilizers to organic farming methods such as agroecology, the regenerative agriculture (RA) approach and permaculture, among other sustainable farming techniques, is needed.
“The heavy financial burden placed on African nations to support the purchase of expensive, imported fertilizers is draining local economies and diverting funds from more sustainable local agricultural investments,” said Bridget Mugambe, Program Coordinator at the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA).
She called on governments and policy makers at the summit and across Africa to recognize the enormous potential of agroecology to sustainably increase food security and food sovereignty to reduce poverty and hunger, while preserving biodiversity and respecting indigenous knowledge.
So far, Kenya is one of the African countries in the process of developing agroecology policies. The country also launched the National Agriculture Soil Management Policy (NASMP) in conjunction with the Nairobi AFSH Summit. The policy will help facilitate the restoration and maintenance of agricultural land to increase productivity, improve food security and contribute to poverty reduction, while conserving land and water resources for future generations.
Within the local governments, Murang’a County in central Kenya was the first to develop the legal framework for agroecology through which the government can easily allocate resources for the production of organic fertilizers and pesticides.
“The main reason why we had to pioneer this is that our region is highly affected by climate change and therefore agroecology became a priority as a way of adapting to the phenomenon,” said Daniel Gitahi, Director of Agricultural Value Chains, policy and strategy.
“The second reason is that as a county government, we observed that our yields were declining despite optimal use of fertilizers and after research we discovered that our soil had become more acidic due to overuse of nitrogen-based fertilizers,” he said. .
Other solutions showcased at the summit include the use of ‘bokashi’ fermented organic fertiliser, which has progressed from small-scale production to commercial scale in a few African countries.
“I have been able to transform my tea plantation using bokashi; I also no longer use fertilizers on my maize farm in West Pokot County and yet my yield has almost doubled,” says Esther Bett, executive director of the Resources Oriented Development Initiative ( RODI Kenya).
RODI Kenya already packs and sells bokashi fertilizer through agrovet shops across the country and has the capacity to produce up to 10 tonnes per month.
Allan Ligare of Mzuri Organics in Kakamega County, who works in collaboration with the International Center for Insect Ecology (ICIPE), brought organic fertilizer made using black soldier flies while he was making animal feed. “This fertilizer contains all the important nutrients; it adds organic matter to the soil and it helps retain soil moisture,” he said.
A 2022 study published in the scientific journal Nature found that insect manure produced by all insect species had adequate concentrations and contents of macronutrients, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K)), secondary nutrients (calcium, magnesium). and sulphur) and micronutrients (manganese, copper, iron, zinc, boron and sodium).
The main objective of the 2024 AFSH Summit is to highlight the central role of soil health transformation in stimulating sustainable pro-poor productivity growth in African agriculture and food systems and to adopt the 10-year Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan.
