Experts from the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization-KALRO have come up with an integrated soil management technology meant to improve soil productivity in the Mt. Kenya region.
All soils across this region have inherently good soil fertility but they have not received adequate nutrient replenishment after continuous nutrient mining, according to a Technical Report of Soil Survey and Sampling Results in Embu and Mbeere by Land Use Change Impacts and Dynamics (LUCID), an approach for investigating diversity loss and land degradation project.
KALRO Embu Center Director Dr. Patrick Gicheru attributes the decline in soil fertility in the area to use of fertilizer and chemicals which have been depleting the nutrients in the soil.
Low productivity has become a major concern among smallholder farmers especially in the Mt Kenya region.
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This has largely been attributed to a decline in soil fertility due to use of fertilizer that lack basic minerals and chemicals over a long period of time.
According Mountain Research and Development by Heinrich Speck which was published y International Mountain Society, Mount Kenya area must respond to an increasing number of demands on its renewable resources nowadays. The agricultural production of the fertile footzone of the mountain must be increased continually because of the rapid growth in both population and the production of cash crops.
Dr. Gicheru says the organization will train farmers on how mix modern fertilizer with manure to improve the productivity.
KALRO which has developed seed varieties that suit the Mt. Kenya ecological zone, is calling on all farmers to embrace the new varieties to boast production.
He urged farmers to embrace technology as well as various technologies which have been developed by the organization.