Fruit growers turn to soil from the woods— nature’s best fertiliser
Meshack Wambua at a fruit nursery in Welovea, Makueni County on April 4. He is among a group of farmers using forest soil to propagate seedlings.
Thousands of mango and assorted citrus fruit trees greet visitors traveling along the dirt Emali-Ukia Road, which cuts through Makueni County. A closer look reveals that there are tens of such trees thriving in all the farmlands on both sides of the road. An interaction with nursery operators in the region reveals that the fruit trees depend on nature’s best fertiliser from the neighbouring forests.
“Our secret lies in forest soil, which we use to propagate our fruit seedlings,” Meshack Wambua, who operates a vibrant nursery near Welovea township, told Health Nation. He is part of a group of 18 nursery operators who market seedlings together. The group, which trades as Ng’etha Fruit Producers, boasts at least two million seedlings at any one point, making it the largest in the county. It started in 2012 and got a new lease of life in 2019 after receiving a water tank and a solar powered irrigation system through a Sh500,000 grant by the National Agriculture and Rural Inclusive Growth Project, a World Bank funded project that promotes the production of mangoes, green grams, tomatoes and chicken in the county.
A seedling at Ng’etha Fruit Producers goes for Sh40 on average. The main customers are individuals determined to set up orchards in their farmlands. The ongoing clamour for growing trees, which is championed by President William Ruto as a way of tackling the vagaries of drought, has boosted the seedlings enterprise and made it more attractive to youth, who, according to the group’s chairman Mutie Mwangani, are business-minded.
They acquire forest soil from the neighbouring Nzaui Hill Forest and Ngwasini Hill Forest, where the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) sells a tractor load at Sh5, 000. Tractor operators charge Sh3,000 per trip on average to transport a tractor load of the commodity to the nursery.
“Previously, it would take at least six months for a seedling to be ready for the market until we discovered the magic in forest soil. It now takes three months for seedlings propagated using forest soil to be ready for the market. This makes a lot of business sense,” Mr Wambua said.
The 37-year-old father of one went headlong in commercial seedlings production in 2022 after returning home from the United Arab Emirates, where he did menial jobs for 18 months. He says he makes more money in the seedlings business.
Soil scientists and foresters have approved the use of forest soil in propagating seedlings. They contend that it is richer in nutrients compared to conventional soil obtained from farmlands, which they argue has been exhausted because of years of usage. This is what makes forest soil highly suitable for the propagation of seedlings.
“Forest soil is akin to compost manure that has matured for decades. It is mainly made up of layers and layers of rotten leaves and other organic materials that have piled up for decades. It is not contaminated by agro-chemicals. This makes it highly suitable for the production of seedlings,” Martin Mutie, head of Kenya Forest Service in Makueni County, told Health Nation. He added that forest soil has fewer disease-causing microorganisms when compared with conventional soils in farmlands and it comes with additional properties such as porosity and essential microorganisms such as the Mycorrhiza bacteria, which is released by pines. “Mycorrhiza bacteria helps plants obtain moisture and nutrients,” he said.
The forests agency has observed a growing appetite for forest soil in the Makueni fruit belt in recent years. Environmentalists link the craze for using forest soil to grow fruit trees with enhanced conservation efforts and food security. “Whenever our clients seek help to have their seedlings grow well, we recommend forest soil. It enhances the maturity of trees,” Mr Mwongela said. While lauding nursery operators and other organised groups bordering forests for using forest soil sustainably, Mr Mutie said: “The increased demand for forest soils and other forest resources such as grass in areas bordering indigenous forests boosts the campaign for the conservation of the forests. The communities bordering the forests have become the first line of defence when the forests are threatened”.
Having surmounted a key challenge in the production of seedlings, Mr Wambua and his fellow nursery operators have their eyes trained on positioning their enterprises for high-end customers. They see contract seedling production as a key path to that destination. “To tackle the marketing challenge in the seedlings business, we have embarked on entering into deals with government agencies, NGOs and other consumers so that we can produce seedlings for them in advance with the confidence which comes with a ready market,” Mr Mwongela said. Meanwhile, the group is toying with adding value to the seedlings through grafting before expanding the enterprise. “It pains to sell a seedling at Sh40 and then it fetches Sh300 in the next market after it has been grafted. We want to go the grafting route. We are also thinking about setting up a showroom along the busy Mombasa-Nairobi highway so that we can attract high value customers.
