By Felix Ochieng Akech

Emanuel Onyango was adding fertiliser blindly, but his harvests were declining, throwing him into a world of technical jargon and theory on soil care. Yet he found the solutions were, in fact, simple and practical, using chicken manure and maize stalks.

For years, Emanuel thought his shrinking maize harvests meant he needed more fertiliser. The mixed farmer from Opapo village in Migori County added DAP, CAN, and sometimes raw poultry manure every season. 

“The maize looked beautiful, but the cobs were light and half filled,” said Emanuel. “I thought I was doing everything right. Later I realized I was actually overfeeding my soil.”

He only discovered the problem in 2022, after joining a county training at Siala Technical Training College. Extension officers introduced terms he had never heard before, including “counting nitrogen”, and explained that poor balance in the soil could create pest attacks, weeds, and soil acidity.

“That’s when I first heard the term ‘counting nitrogen’,” said Emanuel. “They said too little reduces yields, but too much also causes problems. I decided to test my soil to see what I was really dealing with.”

The results surprised him. Nitrogen was low, but phosphorus and potassium were already enough. Years of adding fertiliser had not stopped his soil from degrading.

“I used to add DAP every planting season without knowing my soil was already short of organic matter,” he said. “I realized I had been treating the symptoms, not the cause.”

That began a complete change in how he farmed. He started listing every input he used. He stopped spreading raw poultry manure and instead mixed it with maize stalks and goat dung, leaving the pile to rest so it released nutrients slowly.

“Poultry manure is very hot,” he said. “Now I mix it with maize waste and let it rest for at least two months before spreading it. That way, it adds nitrogen slowly and doesn’t burn the crops.”

He also began rotating maize with beans and green grams, which send down roots that fix nitrogen into soils, and now sends soil samples to a Migori agro lab every two seasons.

“It’s like checking your health,” he said. “You can’t just swallow medicine without knowing what your body needs.”

By the second season, his yields had risen from 12 to 18 bags per acre, the maize leaves turned dark green, and earthworms began returning to his fields.

“I divided my two acre plot, one side with compost and a little CAN, and the other with my old fertiliser routine,” he said. “The composted side had stronger cobs and no pest attacks. The fertilizer-only side grew fast but gave small cobs. That was the turning point for me.”

The county’s GAP trainers say many farmers face the same issue, with uneven nitrogen use reducing yields and increasing fertiliser costs.

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Emanuel said nitrogen management does not need complex tools.

“Nitrogen management is not guesswork,” he said. “It’s about knowing your soil’s needs and balancing inputs.”

For him, “counting nitrogen” has become a simple habit of watching his soil and recording what he adds. He has progressively learned which on-farm solutions add nitrogen, and what can reduce it.

“You don’t need machines to do it,” he said. “Just watch your soil, use compost, and record what you add. When nitrogen is enough, your plants show you they stand firm and mature right.”

“The secret is simple, don’t add fertilizer blindly. Know your soil first, then feed it what it needs.”

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