Rice farmers asked to adopt crop specific fertilisers for more yields

Rice farmers have been asked to limit usage of traditional forms of fertilisers to maximise yields.

According to experts, most of the traditional fertilisers which include Diammonium phosphate (DAP), urea and sulphate only provide a maximum of two nutrients. This has led to little yields in number of bags of rice harvested per acre.

Farmers instead should adopt granular compound crop specific fertilisers for use when planting as it provides up to five nutrients, which include nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and sulphur, according to experts.

Yara East Africa country manager Bill Ng'eno said if farmers use these kinds of fertilisers, they'll also suffer losses due to high levels of acidity.

"If you continue to invest in the old fertilisers, then you need to use lime because you need to reduce the acidifying effect," said Mr Ngeno.

The average use of fertiliser in Kenya stands at 600,000 metric tonnes while Tanzania comes second at 250,000 and Uganda at 60,000.

Mr Ng'eno noted that to meet this demand, Yara East Africa has come up with a fertiliser that seeks to help farmers increase their yields.

He said the aim of the product was in line with the mission to feed the world and protect the planet as the organisation seeks to provide the right fertiliser to farmers, to help boost the right yield for specific crops grown in various regions. "If farmers use quality fertiliser, they will get good returns," Mr Ngeno said. Yara East Africa agronomist Kefa Makori said proper adherence to stages of fertiliser application in rice results to quality yields and cited Mwea, which is regarded as the main rice growing area in Kenya, as a good example.

"For rice farmers in Mwea, the yields have grown on average by 27 per cent and between income and profitability, the farmer has an average of Sh28,000 and Sh30,000 per hectare," Mr Makori said.

He noted that crop specific fertiliser increases production by 30 per cent compared to conventional one and additional income of Sh30,000 per acre.

Mr John Kesuna, a farmer, said he has been registering huge wheat, maize and potatoes harvest since he started using crop specific three years ago.

A report presented to Water and Irrigation Chief Administrative Secretary Andrew Tuimur shows yields increased substantially after farmers use crop specific fertiliser at various stages of crop growth. Mr Tuimur said, “I am impressed with the results achieved by Yara fertiliser across Mwea Irrigation Scheme in the last one year. The report shows great improvement of yields by rice farmers in Mwea. This is the right direction to ensuring food security for this country and must be replicated across the rice growing regions.”