Agriculture is a major driver of the Kenyan economy and the dominant source of employment. Report after report has shown that agriculture significantly contributes to the reduction of rural poverty and the creation of wealth.
Increasing agricultural productivity, therefore, is the key to robust economic growth and prosperity. How can we attain optimum production from our farms?
The starting point is proper attention to our soils, without which no food will be produced, at least not on the scale to feed the billions of people on our planet. To keep it fertile, we must constantly nourish it with the right nutrients. This means understanding the types of soil we have.
Applying crop-enhancing ingredients should no longer be a matter of trial and error, but an exact science. Extensive soil analysis research in various regions and tailor-making fertiliser for specific crops and soil types is the answer.
To succeed in this endeavour, those in the food business must reach out to counties and come up with creative solutions for their regions. This will complement government extension efforts as private players’ technical field officers will offer advice to farmers where it is needed most.
From my experience in Kenya and Tanzania, our biggest hindrance in addressing unproductive soil is lack of knowledge in using fertiliser. Use of fertilisers is a science that is yet to be cracked by most farmers, stakeholders and even at the government level. For instance, despite the fact that soils in many parts of Kenya are acidic, farmers have continually used acidic fertilisers. This compromises, instead of enhancing, the availability of nutrients in the soil. Farmers should be encouraged to adopt less acidifying fertilisers so they don't worsen the situation.
The majority of the Kenyan farmers continue to apply diammonium phosphates (DAP) and urea, which have only two nutrients — nitrogen and phosphorus — yet about 90 per cent of the soils in Kenya are deficient in other key nutrients such as sulphur.
Crop yield potential cannot be attained if balanced nutrition is not supplied. Farmers can achieve more yield when they use enriched compound fertilisers like YaraMila and topdressing fertilisers such as YaraVera Amidas and YaraBela Sulfan, providing both macro and micronutrients.
Apart from using the correct fertiliser type, other good agricultural practices like reploughing in crop residue, the buildup of organic matter and minimum tillage will keep soils alive to feed even the future generations.
Agricultural Extension services must, therefore, include training on using good quality fertilisers. It's urgent to increase the use of fertiliser, which is far lower than other agriculture-rich nations like Brazil and the Netherlands. The Abuja Declaration to increase fertiliser use to an average of 50kg/ha in African Union member states has not been met four years after its 2015 deadline
A recent World Bank report indicates fertilizer use in Kenya averages 30kg/ha, compared to an average 100kg/ha applied in Asia at the peak of the Green Revolution.
Another enabler to our agricultural revolution is irrigation. As the World Bank noted in its latest report on Kenya, declining farm size and limited irrigation are constraints to improving agricultural productivity. Kenyan farms, which are generally getting smaller and smaller are becoming uneconomical to operate.
Therefore, the best modern agricultural practices are needed to increase productivity. The report further indicates 87 per cent of farmers operate less than two hectares, while 67 per cent operate less than one hectare. With much land being arid and semi-arid, more should be made productive and irrigation is a top priority.
Today, only two per cent of arable land is under irrigation compared to an average of six per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa and 37 per cent in Asia.
This presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The large area yet to be irrigated means we must mobilise and deploy enormous resources and infrastructure. However, once this potential is tapped our economy will definitely be able to grow in double-digits as food inflation drops drastically.
The increase in crop productivity has a massive effect on the economy by raising household incomes, alleviating poverty, improving food security and foreign exchange earnings.
Finally, the challenges of agricultural financing need to be addressed to unlock farmers’ access to technologies, quality inputs and irrigation infrastructure. While mobile tech firms are making an effort on this front — providing some money to farmers — more needs to be done to bring on board the reluctant traditional lenders.
A paltry four per cent of commercial bank lending goes to agribusiness. In Latin American an interest rate of eight per cent, while our farmers pay higher interest rates, making their produce more costly on the international markets. The revolution in agricultural financing requires concerted efforts by the government, the private sector and the development partners in order to catalyse access to affordable financing.
Through Public-Private partnerships in agricultural space, it is possible to reduce poverty levels as agriculture is a major driver of growth for the Kenyan economy. Sectoral collaboration in areas such as appropriate fertiliser use, enhancing infrastructure and affordable agricultural financing to drive increased crop productivity and profitability will put more money into the hands of the farmers.
Profitable farms will be able to participate in agro-processing either directly through on-farm value addition or indirectly by being part of viable value chains. This is a catalyst to enable Kenya to be an industrial nation, which is food secure, generates massive employment opportunities and the much sought-after economic prosperity.
The writer is Country Manager at Yara East Africa
(Edited by V. Graham)
