By Lyzzie Owade

A farmer whose maize harvests had fallen steadily in Kakamega, has doubled his yields by making and adding biochar to his soil.

Brownwell Mukabwa, who grows potatoes in Uasin Gishu and maize on his ancestral land in Amalemba scheme in Kakamega, said yields on his home farm had slumped since his father’s time..

“I could not get enough maize at all. My father could always harvest up to 40 bags per acre but when it was my turn the only bags I could get was from 12 to 15 bags, which was very discouraging,” he said

In trying to work out what had changed about his land, or his farming, “I learnt about biochar from Plant Village, which helps farmers to adapt to climate change and also biological control of pests,” he said.

He started buying Plant Village biochar and adding it to his soil. 

“From 12 bags, now I am happy harvesting 25 bags from last harvest, which is much better than before,” said Brownwell.

He also saved costs. Before, he was spending almost Sh20,000 each season on fertiliser. “Since I started using biochar, in a season I only spent Sh6,000 on my farm or maybe when I buy biochar at Plant Village which only costs Sh2,500.”

The treatment has also reduced soil-borne diseases like wilt and blight on his potato farm.

The biochar helps to reduce the acidity in soil that can come from adding fertiliser over many years, and creates a soil structure that helps it hold the micronutrients plants need to thrive. “For me I believe that soil nutrients are not only about the nutrients but also about the micro nutrients on the farm and the soil structure,” he said.

The biochar also helps hold water in the soil. “It’s spongy-like, which holds moisture for a very long time. For example, when the rain was lost for a little bit, my neighbour’s crop, which is not using biochar, will start to wilt, but mine will still be green and also the crops planted by biochar will produce more yields,” he said.

Brownwell is also now making his own biochar using dried maize stalks, leaves, and sawdust. “Dig a hole in a cone shape if you don’t have the kiln,” he said. He digs a hole about one metre wide and one metre deep.“The cone shape helps the flame to burn slowly, letting little oxygen in during the burn. But the fire should be lit at the top, always. If you light it at the bottom, it burns with smoke and turns to ash. The biochar comes from burning slowly.”

“When the biomass are not well dried you also might get low quality of biochar which will stop the crops performing so well,” he said. 

“The woody biomass takes longer than the leaves and maize stalks,” he said. “Most farmers always burn the biomass till it turns to ash. But this won’t add so much to your soil.”

“Instead, you can cover it with a lid to reduce the oxygen and slow the burning, it will eventually go off, or you can sprinkle water to stop it.”

“When stopping the burning, you must be good in timing, because when you delay you might end up with ashes instead of biochar.”

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“After sprinkling water, you have to blend it with manure,” he said.

“You can’t put biochar into your soil alone since it has only potassium, and phosphorus is low. That’s why I add fresh manure to boost the nitrogen. The fresh cow dung has ammonia and nutrients.”

“I add a measure of one equal to one which is one bucket of fresh manure to each one bucket of biochar,” he said.

Overall, “making it from the step one till end takes roughly two weeks.”

“Then, during planting, I put one handful of biochar in a hole then I left for a few days, like three days, then come back to plant and during top dressing I put biochar which is mixed with rabbit urine which is also rich in nitrogen,” he said.

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