By Wanja Mungai
Kenyan farmers are opting for organic plantation inputs to improve the quality and safety of their products while also taking care of the environment. Many are now beginning in order to use biofertilizer, which is made from organic waste.
CGTN met Steven Kariuki Muthui who uses biofertilizer to boost his crop yields instead of conventional chemical fertilizer. The 33 year-old from Nakuru, in Kenya’s Rift Valley, prides himself as a certified natural farmer.
“It means cultivating organic food without external inputs which are harmful to the soil to the environment to animals and plants, ” Steven Kariuki, Organic Farmer.
Kariuki adds that biofertilizers help in ensuring food safety as well as mitigating against climate change. While chemical fertilizer releases greenhouse gases into the air, bio fertilizer does the opposite. It traps gases like carbon dioxide in the soil.
“Carbon is meant to be retained within the soil as opposed to being released in the air, that is what causes the issues of climate change. So , the particular essence is to retain as much as possible the carbon in the soil, ” says Kariuki.
This organic farmer discovered biography fertilizers after he met Mildred Day, a manufacturer of the eco-friendly input. Day time works with a group associated with women inside making the best out regarding Nakuru county’s waste organic matter.
At her compost sites, typically the organic matter takes months to fully process. The process entails layering involving different types of waste, from animal, farm and residential organic waste.
It is also fortified with nutrients to help make a rich mix.
“At the county market we have 2000 Traders and by collecting that will waste we are able to create clean environment for them to trade and also intercepting of which waste through being taken to this landfill we prevent methane emissions, ” submits Mildred Day, Founder, Griincom.
Day says her fertilizers are weather smart.
She says that most of often the Farmers use rain fed agriculture plus because connected with climate switch effects there is less rainfall than normal. This means there is certainly declining productivity throughout the farms, but when organic fertilizers are used, it has high water retention. This helps in crop cultivation, environment change notwithstanding.
More farmers are adopting climate smart agriculture to cushion against droughts, floods and rising temperatures.
Whilst not many farmers understand the contribution of their practice in order to climate modification experts believe there is a need to get all of them enlightened so they may adopt local climate smart methods.
“Agricultural sector in Africa is your largest emitter of greenhouse gases. It is furthermore a sector that provides income for about 60 percent with the population so it’s not something the fact that you can just ban. So it will be very important that we find methods that will not deteriorate the surroundings further but provide enough food for everyone, ” states Anja Berretta, Head of Programme, Energy Security & Climate Change Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.