Soil sample core       photo: courtesy

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) along with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and other community partners launched a critical effort to counteract soil acidity which cuts maize yields by at least 30 percent.

 

This effort,  Dr Bashir Jama, Director of AGRA's Soil Health Program believes “will get lime, fertilizers (inorganic and organic) and conservation agriculture to smallholder farmers who now can only produce enough food to last three months; the other nine months being a long hungry season.”

 

In Kenya's western and central provinces, 7.5 million hectares of land are highly acidic, a problem shared by large parts of  Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda  and Zambia, according to Dr Francis Kiriro, Assistant Director of Adaptive Research, KARI. The high acidity is due to leaching of nutrients by the abundant rains, continuous cultivation and misapplication of nitrogen fertilizers which break down the soil forming acidic compounds.  This acidity prevents crops from utilizing whatever nutrients remain in the soil.

 

The known solution to this problem is the application of calcium-rich lime, along with complimentary fertilizers and organic matter in the soil.  In Western Kenya, as in other affected regions of Africa, however, the high cost of lime, largely due to transport costs, has kept it from reaching smallholders' fields.

 

Triggering System-wide Change

 

Kiriro, who co-chaired a workshop at KARI-Kakamega that brought together researchers,

bank officers, lime and fertilizer companies, agro-dealers, civil society organizations, extension workers, and smallholder farmers to plan implementation of  the 25 million KSh (US$510,000) project aimed at solving this problem says that the initiative is “ about to show how a relatively small amount of resources can go a long way," with relevant actors involved.

 

According to Dr Bashir, "When extension workers train farmers in the use of lime, and banks can finance agro-dealers to stock it, and farmers can access low-interest loans to purchase it -- then we can begin to see dramatic changes in farm yield and food security."

 

Previous research by KARI-Kakamega and Moi University, which started in 2003, has demonstrated the impact of lime, especially in combination with other fertilizers for treating acidic soils.

 

Solomon Lumasayi, a farmer from Majemo Village in Kakamega North reporting on the impact of lime in his experimental plot says: "When I started in that plot I was getting 20 kilos of maize, after applying lime I got 3 bags (of about 80 kilos each).  So I managed to buy four sacks of lime." His results convinced neighbors of lime's usefulness and 100 farmers put aside funds to purchase it, but none was available.

 

"Lime is not easily found," Lumasai says. "For the farmers to grow and get healthy, we need a lot of assistance."

 

Now, however, the pieces are in place to get large quantities of lime into this area, which is about hundred kilometers from its source at Koru.  The project will initially include 5,000 farmers in Siaya and Kakamega districts, and expand over the next three years to reach 50,000.

 

 

The AGRA funds will be used to invest in bulk purchase and transport of the products to project sites; to purchase soil testing equipment; and to fund farm demonstrations. KARI-Kakamega will coordinate the project.  Homa Lime Company in Koru, Kisumu and the Athi River Mining Company in Nairobi will supply their products at a discounted cost.

 

Homa Lime Co., are willing to partner to help the trials succeed, says company representative Joseph Alubakeh. "When customers push stockists to stock it, lime will be available in the shops."

 

In addition, Equity Bank's Kilimo Biashara program will make loans available at a 10 percent interest rate, the lowest available to local farmers and agro-dealers.  Moi University will provide technical support and get new acid-tolerant maize seed to farmers, and train several MSc students to assess the agronomic, economic and environmental benefits of these interventions.

 

Fostering Diversity and Environmental Health

 

AGRA expects that the program, if successful, would relieve pressure on the environment, especially on the nearby Kakamega Forest.  It is the only remnant of a rainforest that once carpeted the area and stretched into Congo and eastward toward West Africa. Farmlands have steadily replaced forested land, and continued development not only threatens biodiversity but would ultimately alter the regions hydrology and affect the water supply for millions of people, from Lake Victory all the way to the Nile River.

 

But increasing farm productivity on existing farmland, through the use of lime and other integrated soil fertility management technologies, should not only improve household food security and increase incomes, but also greatly reduce pressure on the forest.

 

Jama stresses that using lime for maize farming is an entry-point “will enable the agricultural system as a whole to develop and better serve smallholder farmers. But we must also use this opportunity to diversify.  Maize alone will not end poverty.  Farmers also need to grow beans, sweet potato, soyabeans, and groundnuts.  All of these crops will make money for the farmers, improve the resilience of farms and the nutrition of families."

 

 Courtesy, AGRA.