The government will soon develop an integrated organic and mineral fertilizer standard to increase the use of organic fertilizer.
The standards will guide manufacturers in the mineral composition of the organic fertilizer.
The Kenya Agricultural Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) Director Natural Resources management, Dr. David Kamau said they are working with the Kenya Bureau of Statistics and other agencies in developing the standards that will guide and regulate the formal use of fertilizer.
Speaking during a stakeholder’s workshop to share views on the status of integrating organic and inorganic fertilizer in the country, Dr. Kamau added that structures to integrate the use of organic and synthetic fertilizer are also being put in place.
“We are calling for urgent strategic efforts to restore soils within 10 years and these standards are one of the missing links and once we have standards for inorganic fertilizers, and also for organic fertilizers through integration our farming will be sustainable,” he said.
Dr. Kamau explained working towards integrating Organic farming (IOF) will not only improve soil health but also reduce environmental impact and increase farm productivity.
“The biggest challenge that we have is that our soils are very degraded and one of the reasons is that continuous usage of inorganic fertilizer has made the soil organic matter very low and this has resulted in a lot of degradation”, he explained.
Studies, he noted, have been done to compare conventional agriculture with organic systems of agriculture and what has been seen is that after a period of 10 years, organic fertilizer improves the soil conditions and at the same time boosts productivity.
He however acknowledged that the process of organic fertilizer might be a bit expensive but “in the long run and if all would accept to pay for premium prices for it we can address food security matters. If we accept that eating healthy is eating organic, we should be able to pay for those premium prices and make organic farming sustainable,” he added.
Dr. Kamau said about 40 percent of arable land is acidic and what is most important is looking at soil health and this can therefore be done by integrating both organic and inorganic fertilizers.
“Farmers should test their soils and this is key so that we know what is missing in the soil. It will also guide you on the kind of fertilizer that you could use and also be able to get recommendations on specific value chain one want to venture in,” he said adding that most crops will do well between a pH of 5.5 and a pH of 6.8.”
Junnie Wangari, chairperson Organic Fertilizer and Input Manufactures Association of Kenya (OFIMAK) said their aim is to ensure that farmers are able to access products, know how to use them, so that they’re able to enrich their soils and increase productivity.
Wangari appealed to the government to also include organic fertilizers into the subsidy programme so that the farmer is able to add on.
“Right now, on average a 50 kg bag of organic fertilizer costs about Sh3,000 so you can already see it is even more expensive than the government subsidy thus unaffordable to the farmers,” she said
Wangari acknowledged the need to add organic carbon into our soils to enrich them so that they can sustain crop growth and urged the government to promote the use of organic and inorganic fertilizer as doing so would not only be helpful to the farmers but would also address soil health resulting to better yields
By Wangari Ndirangu
