Soil Suitability Evaluation for Maize Production in Kenya

Abstract

Vision 2030’s Economic Pillar envisages the agricultural sector among the six key growth drivers of the Kenyan economy. This calls for an agricultural sector that is ‘viable, vibrant and commercially oriented so as to compete at the international level’ with more advanced world economies. However, the productivity levels of many crop enterprises is below potential while the yield trends and value for the last few years have either remained constant or are on the decline. To achieve sustainable agricultural production, there is need to enhance the yields per unit of land while at the same time conserving the soil resources. This is more so because of the increasing pressure on the land due to rising population and hence the need to utilize soils better than they have been utilized in the past. The National Accelerated Agricultural Input Access Program (NAAIAP) is a pro-poor, food security and poverty alleviation government initiative that is aligned with Vision 2030 and other government policy documents. NAAIAP provides targeted agricultural inputs subsidy to smallholder resource poor farmers. The program has been operating for the last 7 years and has reached beneficiaries in 164 Sub Counties, formerly known as Districts. The core objective of NAAIAP is to improve farm inputs access and affordability for small-scale farmers to enhance food security at household level and generate incomes from sales of surplus produce. The subsidized inputs kits are intended to promote adoption of new technologies. In addition, targeted beneficiaries are supported with extension services and linked to other service providers with the objective of increasing agricultural productivity. However, this noble effort faces challenges due to limited information on crop nutrients requirements, characteristics of soils and high level of variation in soil properties that are experienced across many sub counties where the program operates. This lack of information has made it difficult for program officers and field staff to offer professional advice on Sub County specific soil nutrient requirements. To maintain soil fertility, soil investigations are the farmers’ best guide for any soil amendments and efficient use of fertilizers. A soil investigation is the first step in identification of soil related constraints with a goal to achieving higher yields, maximum profit while utilizing the best soil fertility management practices. To mitigate these challenges, NAAIAP undertook to carry out soil sampling, analysis and interpretation of 9,600 samples spread over 164 sub counties. The exercise was funded through the Enhancing Agricultural Productivity Project (EAPP) financed by European Union through World Bank.