Soil testing is the fool-proof answer to modern farming, food security

Mutahi Kagwe says soil acidity has degraded about 63 percent of Kenya’s arable land, or roughly 7.5 million hectares, lowering staple-crop yields and threatening food security. He urges farmers to test their soil before each planting season because acidity, nutrient levels and organic matter vary from farm to farm, making fertiliser application without analysis risky. Kagwe says national and county governments should educate farmers to break recurring crop-failure cycles and improve food sufficiency. The government has facilitated access to testing through a refurbished and re-equipped soil chemistry laboratory at the Kenya Agricultural…