NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — When Benson Wanjala started farming in his western Kenyan village two and a half decades ago, his 25-acre farm could produce a bountiful harvest of 200 bags of maize. That has dwindled to 30. He says his once fertile land has turned into a nearly lifeless field that no longer provides him with an income.
Like many farmers, he blames acidifying fertilizers that have been promoted in Kenya and other African countries in recent years. He said he started using the fertilizers to boost his yields and it worked — until it didn’t. The Kenyan government first introduced a fertilizer subsidy in 2008, making chemical fertilizers more accessible to smallholder farmers.
About 63% of Kenya’s agricultural land is now sour, according to the ministry of agriculture, which has recorded a decline in the production of staples such as maize and key exports of horticulture and tea. Maize production fell 4% to 44 million tonnes in 2022, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, which did not say why.
The Department of Agriculture did not respond to queries, particularly after a fake fertiliser scandal in April. The fertiliser turned out to be quarry soil in bags with misleading labels that were distributed to farmers through a national subsidy programme. President William Ruto said about 7,000 farmers had bought the fake fertiliser and would be compensated with the correct product.
Soil health problems are mounting as the African continent struggles to feed itself. Africa has 65% of the world’s remaining uncultivated agricultural land, but has spent about $60 billion annually on food imports, according to the African Development Bank. Spending is expected to rise to $110 billion by 2025 due to increased demand and changing consumption habits.
In May, Kenya hosted an Africa-wide soil health summit to discuss declining production, climate change and other issues that have heightened concerns about food security. Agriculture is a major part of Kenya’s economy, accounting for more than a quarter of GDP.
During the summit, Stephen Muchiri, executive director of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation, called for a return to traditional farming methods to restore lifeless soils. This involves planting different crops with minimal soil disturbance.
“Inorganic fertilizers were never intended to be the basis for agriculture,” he said, later adding that because of “commercially driven agriculture our soils are now poor, acidic, low in biomass resources, and devoid of life!”
He said farmers should rotate crops on their land and get compost material from livestock, such as goats: “There has to be some kind of transition and adjustment so that our soils become fertile again.”
According to experts, soil acidity causes soil degradation by reducing the availability of plants and essential nutrients, making the soil more vulnerable to structural loss and erosion.
Bridget Mugambe, programme coordinator for the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, recommended phasing out chemical fertilizers.
“Soil health goes beyond the quick fixes that chemical fertilizers provide. In fact, chemical fertilizers have done tremendous damage to our soils in Africa. We need to look at our soils in a more holistic way,” she said.
The African Union Soil Health Summit, which in 2006 recommended its members to use more chemical fertilizers, has adopted a 10-year plan calling for more investment in producing both organic and chemical fertilizers locally and tripling their use to increase production.
At the summit, AU Commissioner for Agriculture Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko said the continent “loses more than $4 billion in soil nutrients every year.”
Kenya is heavily dependent on imported fertilizers due to low local production. The main supplier is the European Union, followed by Saudi Arabia and Russia.
John Macharia, manager of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa in Kenya, said the recent fertilizer scandal in Kenya should not discourage farmers.
“It is still very important that we can work with the government to ensure that we get the right fertilizers in 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.
Declining soil quality is a problem for food security across Africa.
In Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, about 70 percent of soils are acidic, according to the government. The government has introduced chemical fertilizers in the past in an attempt to strengthen soils, but misuse has led to a decline in organic matter.
“Before mineral fertilizers were introduced, our ancestors had the knowledge and understanding that if you add organic fertilizer, the soil becomes fertile and crops perform better,” said Wonder Ngezimana, associate professor of crop sciences at Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Zimbabwe. “That is a traditional norm in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa, where people go out and look for all kinds of organic matter to add to the soil.”
That includes animal manure, grass, leaves and twigs, crop residues, ash and compost. But many farmers in Zimbabwe have lost livestock because of the recent drought, Ngezimana said: “Farmers are struggling to maintain soil health because they can’t generate sufficient amounts of organic matter.”
AGRA advised farmers to test the acidity of their soil and use lime to reverse the high acidity.
But farmers say both are limited and expensive. Soil testing services are available from state agricultural agencies, public universities and private organizations for prices ranging from $20 to $40.
Wanjala, the farmer, says he doesn’t even have enough money for cattle, for fertilizer, and barely for seeds.
“I can’t afford any further expenditure,” he said.
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Farai Mutsaka in Harare, Zimbabwe contributed to this report.
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