Skip to main content
View all news

Making and selling dirt: Practical Action’s approaches to improving soil health

By Practical Action
15 July 2024
Issue: Climate change

Declining soil health threatens rural livelihoods and makes people more vulnerable to climate change in Africa and Asia. Locally-specific approaches are essential to improving this situation.

In areas where agricultural inputs are unavailable or unaffordable, household–level composting and the home-made production of botanical pesticides, can provide appropriate solutions. In other areas, the commercial manufacture of organic fertiliser from urban and rural waste can be a solution that not only enhances soil health, but also creates youth employment, and improves urban waste management. Practical Action is proud to be innovating in these areas and recently, in collaboration with Biovision, produced new, important research on the commercial organic fertiliser sector.

Read the full learning brief or a brief summary.

Soil health

A soil is ‘healthy’ when it is full of useful nutrients, has a PH value that allows nutrients to be absorbed by plants, is rich in micro-organisms and contains good quantities of organic matter that binds it together and helps it retain moisture.

More than a third of the world’s soil is already degraded and this figure will rise to 90% by 2050, if nothing is done about it, according to the IPCC[1]. This is usually caused by years of intensive agriculture on the same soil, often exacerbated by an over-reliance on chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

This matters because declining soil health reduces agricultural productivity and food security and makes it harder for small, independent farmers to adapt to climate change.

However, there are signs of change. At the recent Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit, the Africa Union launched a continent-wide plan for improving soil health. Examples are also seen in Asia, such as in Nepal, where the Government has a Soil Health Action Plan.

Soil health and climate change

An unhealthy soil, with poor structure and little organic matter, makes farmers more vulnerable to climate change:

  • The soil is less able to retain moisture, making plants more vulnerable to dry periods.
  • Areas are more prone to flooding, as less rainfall can be absorbed by the soil. The reduced ‘filtering’ effect of soil, can also have a negative affect on local water quality.
  • The soil is more prone to erosion, reducing the amount of productive farmland.
  • The soil is less able to hold on to nutrients, so even when chemical fertiliser is applied, it can have little effect.

Practical Action is contributing to this effort, by developing approaches:

  • directly with farmers, that improve organic matter content, add nutrients and protect soils
  • with businesses who can produce and supply organic fertiliser and other organic inputs to farmers.

Working directly with farmers

In Kenya and Nepal, we support farmers to improve soil health through farm management practises and through the production of homemade organic inputs.

  • Farm management practises include the use of plants, such as African marigolds, that can deter pests, the use of leguminous crops that add nitrogen to soil and the use of cover crops and mulch that protect soil from excessive heat and rainfall.
  • Organic inputs are produced in a variety of ways. Vermiculture and black soldier fly composting, turn waste from farms and households, back into organic fertiliser and poultry feed. Organic pesticides are made from a variety of locally available plants. Find out more about some of these approaches, including some informative videos, in our Transforming Rural Economies and Youth Livelihoods project.
Compost prepared at Basant Chaudhary's Farm

Compost prepared at Basant Chaudhary’s Farm

In Kenya, vermiculture and black soldier fly composting, have been used by young people to start small businesses, selling organic fertiliser and poultry feed. This is a real “win-win”. It increases youth job opportunities and it improves soil health. The story of Collins from Homa Bay in Kenya, shows what is possible.

Botanical pesticides

Farmers in Africa and Asia, often have indigenous knowledge about local plants such as pyrethrum and neem, that they can use to produce ‘local pesticide’. Other formulations are possible, using common ingredients available to farmers, such as chillies, ginger, garlic and ash.

The private sector can also help this ‘on-farm’ effort. In Nepal, we work with a company, Kisan Care, who train farmers to produce their own compost and make botanical pesticides. They have engaged local agro-dealers who now sell and promote low-cost equipment that helps farmers produce these inputs. This is resulting in less use of chemicals, improved soil health, and, in combination with improved access to digital extension and digital finance, has led to incomes increasing by up to 100%.

A person in a blue shirt and dark pants is kneeling and tending to plants inside a greenhouse.

Nabin Budha Magar applying liquid fertiliser

Working with organic fertiliser businesses

However, to achieve the scale required, other approaches are also needed. The commercial production of organic fertiliser is emerging as a major opportunity, both to supply large quantities of organic matter to farmers and to improve waste management in urban areas.

In Kenya, Practical Action is working on both sides of this opportunity We are working with Sanergy to help them source and incorporate organic waste from households in Kakamega town into their organic fertiliser. Our joint work improves waste collection services for residents and provides dignified and fair livelihood opportunities for waste pickers. In a collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation, we also support youth to develop a role, selling the organic fertiliser, that is produced from the waste, to small farmers.

A number of factors are driving the growth of the commercial organic fertiliser sector in Africa and Asia, primarily the increasing recognition of the need to improve soil health but also supply chain disruptions and rising prices of chemical inputs, caused by the War in Ukraine and the covid pandemic.

But new organic fertiliser distribution research from Practical Action and Biovision has uncovered some of the constraints the sector is facing. Farmers who use organic fertiliser consistently are very positive about its impact but the numbers are currently very small. There are a number of reasons for this:

  • Farmer mindsets, based on the quick fixes provided by chemical fertiliser, and questions over the standardisation of commercially produced products, contribute to low levels of demand.
  • Low demand like this disincentivises agro-dealers from stocking and promoting organic inputs.
  • The storage and transport challenges of bulky organic fertiliser products, exaggerate this situation.

If this vicious circle is to be broken, a coordinated effort involving governments, the private sector, research institutions and NGOs like Practical Action is needed.

Santoshi Chaudhary is digging prepared organic compost.

Santoshi Chaudhary is digging prepared organic compost.

Conclusions

The improvement of soil health will be a critical factor determining how well small farmers around the world, especially in Africa, can adapt to climate change.

PA is addressing this, by taking an holistic and a practical approach.

  • A holistic approach that seeks to understand the complex mix of issues affecting soil health, and the on-farm and private sector led options available to address this, in particular areas.
  • A practical approach that explores and tests context-specific solutions with others, including local service providers, organic fertiliser producers and distributors, local Governments and above all, the farmers affected most by this situation.

If soil health is to be restored, both approaches – the development of organic fertiliser and pesticide by farmers themselves, and the use of commercially produced organic fertiliser, are needed. To achieve the scale necessary, further support is needed in a number of areas:

  • Investment and innovation, to improve the production and distribution challenges, in the organic fertiliser sector.
  • Subsidies for organic fertiliser to match those provided for chemical fertiliser (levelling the playing field) and to make organic products more affordable.
  • Demand creation activities, to help shift the mindset of farmers, for decades influenced by chemical fertiliser and pesticide marketing.
  • Support to the development of extension services with the capacity to promote a variety of approaches to improving soil health.

Practical Action is interested in partnering with organisations working on these issues. If you’d like to discuss an idea with me, please contact me via LinkedIn or by email on john.chettleborough@practicalaction.org.uk

[1] IPCC, Special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems, August 2019 quoted in World Economic Forum blog post Here’s a tangible plan to restore soil health in the next 10 years, 2020, accessed 18/6/24

 

View all news