Precision farming

Dubbed precision farming, or Micro-dosing, the process involves the application of small, affordable quantities of fertiliser with the seed at the time of planting or as top dressing three to four weeks after the seed sprouts.

This ensures that the tender crop utilises the fertiliser exhaustively, in sharp contrast to spreading fertiliser over the field, which means that many crops compete for the same portion of fertilizer sprayed.

Rather than asking how a farmer can maximize yields or profits, micro-dosing asks how a farmer can maximise the returns on a small initial investment that might grow over time, turning deficits into surpluses.

Farmers who use micro-dosing apply six- gram doses of fertiliser, about a full bottle cap or a three-finger pinch, in the hole where the seed is placed at the time of planting. This translates to about 67 pounds of fertilizer for every 2.5 acres.

This technique uses only about one-tenth of the amount typically used on Wheat.Yet the Kenyan crops are so starved of nutrients, such as phosphorous, potassium and nitrogen, that even this micro amount often doubles crop yields.

Farmers in various areas of the country where micro-dosing is taking shape have also adopted innovative techniques to apply micro-doses of the appropriate fertiliser.While farmers in Rift Valley use fertiliser measured out in an empty softdrink or beer bottle cap, in central Kenya the farmers measure the fertiliser with a three finger pinch and apply in it the same hole in which the seed is sown.

Where soil is hard, farmers dig small holes before the rain starts, then fill it with manure, if available. When rains begin, they put fertiliser and seeds in the hole and the soil provides a moist environment, encouraging root growth, and the Water is captured instead of running off the hard – crusted soil.

By correcting soil deficiencies for essential nutrients with tiny doses, root systems develop and capture more water,increasing yields.Land degradation affects more than half of Africa, leading to loss of an estimated $42 billion in income and five million hectares of productive land each year.

The majority of farm lands produce poor yields due to poor farming techniques, nutrient deficiency and lack of water. Land degradation is particularly acute in sub-Saharan African regions where long – term overuse of soil and low, unpredictable rainfall are prime reasons for poor food production.

The farmers are so poor they take every thing they can out of the soil and are not willing to invest in fertilizer because the growing season is very risky. The failure to replenish the soil fuels an unrelenting, vicious cycle.

Unless nutrients are replaced, soils are depleted and yields and crop quality decline, leading to widespread hunger and under nutrition.Unable to feed their families or afford to buy food, farmers abandon unproductive land to clear forests and plough new land, and the cycle repeats.

Clearing new lands for farming is blamed for an estimated 70 per cent of the deforestation in Africa. It is this equation that is now driving the development of micro-dosing.

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