Cereal farmers are set to benefit from a new organic fertilizer best suited for high acidity soils such as those in the North Rift and parts of the Central Rift Valley.

The Tanzanian import is rich in phosphates and is marketed in powder and granular forms, according to Mr Eustace Muriuki, the general manager for Mea Fertilizers.

Known as the Minjingu organic phosphate fertilizer, its being sold at the Kenya Farmers Association (KFA) stores and various agro-dealers and stockists country wide.

Minjingu increases yields of cereals such as maize per hectare by 30 per cent through soil regeneration.

It is mined in the Minjingu area of Tanzania that is rich in phosphates.

Agronomists say the content of phosphate is twice as low as that contained in ordinary DAP fertilizer, and can therefore not be a substitute to the traditional planting fertilizer.

“It is rich in calcium oxide and is best applied on acidic soils because of its potassium content but is low in nitrogen and does not substitute DAP,” said Mr Muriuki.

It has been utilized as a direct application fertilizer due to its high solubility and has been recommended for use by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute ( KARI).

Rift Valley produces over 24 million bags of maize annually from 650,000 hectares.

The figure represents about 65 per cent of the total maize consumption in the country.

This translates into a total consumption of 500,000 tonnes of assorted fertilizers.

Its Agribusiness Development officer, Jacob Mugambi says frequent use of common fertilizers by farmers in Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, parts of Nakuru and Kericho districts, have led to increased acidity in the soils and declining maize production per hectare. Like most sub Saharan countries, Rift Valley soils are low in phosphate and highly acidic.

KARI researchers say organic fertilizer promotes soil re-capitalization after the use of chemical fertilizers over the years.

A soil scientist with KARI, David Mbakaya, says up to 3 000 farmers in parts of western Kenya have used the new fertilizer type.

“Before the introduction of the fertilizer, farmers in the area used to harvest only three to five bags of maize per acre, but the yield increased five-fold after the application of the farm input,” said Mr Mbakaya.

There are plans to build a regional fertilizer manufacturing plant by East Africa Common Market (EAC) members but Tanzania has already started mining its organic fertilizer at Minjingo near Lake Manyara, as it positions itself for the ready market within the EAC as the protocol took effect on July 1.

In Uganda, South Korea plans to construct an organic fertilizer factory.  

That country plans to increase the use of fertilizer from the present one per cent, says its agricultural minister, Hope Mwesigye.