As the short rains approach in two weeks’ time, Kenyan farm­ers are prepar­ing their sham­bas with hopes of improv­ing yields to alle­vi­ate the ris­ing cost of liv­ing. How­ev­er, hid­den behind these efforts is the often-over­looked issue of poor soil health, which threat­ens to reduce pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, increase food prices, and weak­en cli­mate resilience. If soil degra­da­tion is not addressed, the future of food secu­ri­ty and liveli­hoods is at seri­ous risk.

In my recent analy­ses on Kenya’s soil health, the find­ings have been alarm­ing. The Food and Agri­cul­ture Orga­ni­za­tion (FAO) reports that over 33% of Kenya’s soils are degrad­ed due to ero­sion, nutri­ent deple­tion, and poor land man­age­ment. Fur­ther, Kenya los­es over 5,000 hectares of arable land annu­al­ly, reduc­ing agri­cul­tur­al out­put and threat­en­ing food secu­ri­ty. With over 60% of the pop­u­la­tion rely­ing on agri­cul­ture, this cri­sis is crit­i­cal. Painful­ly, as report­ed, maize yields have dropped by 20% in the past decade, dri­ving maize flour prices up by 40%, direct­ly con­tribut­ing to the high cost of food.

Poor soil health not only reduces crop yields but also forces farm­ers to rely on expen­sive chem­i­cal fer­til­iz­ers, which fur­ther degrade the soil. This cycle of declin­ing fer­til­i­ty increas­es pover­ty, as farm­ers spend more while har­vest­ing less. Cli­mate change inten­si­fies the prob­lem by mak­ing degrad­ed soils less able to retain mois­ture, leav­ing crops more vul­ner­a­ble to droughts and floods.

Despite these chal­lenges, there is hope. The approach­ing short rains present an oppor­tu­ni­ty for farm­ers to improve soil health, boost yields, and escape the cycle of low pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and high costs. Soil health is crit­i­cal for both food secu­ri­ty and cli­mate resilience. Healthy soils store water, hold nutri­ents, and sup­port ecosys­tems, mak­ing farms more resis­tant to cli­mate shocks. By restor­ing our soils, we can ensure bet­ter har­vests, low­er food prices, and a health­i­er environment.

Data from the Inter­na­tion­al Food Pol­i­cy Research Insti­tute (IFPRI) shows that sus­tain­able farm­ing prac­tices can increase yields by up to 50%, even in degrad­ed soils. Although many solu­tions have been devel­oped, they often remain in shelves. We must urgent­ly bridge the gap between sci­en­tif­ic knowl­edge and prac­ti­cal appli­ca­tion. Orga­ni­za­tions like the Kenya Agri­cul­tur­al and Live­stock Research Orga­ni­za­tion (KALRO) and the Inter­na­tion­al Live­stock Research Insti­tute (ILRI) have played key roles in sup­port­ing farm­ers with research and inno­va­tion, but these efforts need to be scaled up to ben­e­fit all farmers.

Farm­ers need not wait for gov­ern­ment inter­ven­tion to improve soil health. Sev­er­al sim­ple yet trans­for­ma­tive actions can be imple­ment­ed imme­di­ate­ly to boost yields. First, mulching, for instance, is a high­ly effec­tive way to reduce water evap­o­ra­tion, sup­press weeds, and improve soil struc­ture. Cov­er­ing the soil with organ­ic mate­ri­als like leaves, grass, or crop residues helps retain mois­ture, which is espe­cial­ly impor­tant giv­en the errat­ic rains fore­cast­ed this sea­son. Mulching is a low-cost solu­tion that any farmer can imple­ment with read­i­ly avail­able resources.

Sec­ond­ly, anoth­er pow­er­ful tech­nique is com­post­ing, where organ­ic waste is turned into nutri­ent-rich fer­til­iz­er. Com­post­ing improves soil struc­ture, increas­es nutri­ent avail­abil­i­ty, and helps retain mois­ture, reduc­ing reliance on chem­i­cal fer­til­iz­ers. Farm­ers can cre­ate com­post using ani­mal manure and crop residues.

Third­ly, plant­i­ng drought-resis­tant crops like sorghum, mil­let, and cas­sa­va is anoth­er cru­cial action. These crops ensure food secu­ri­ty even when rain­fall is scarce. Fourth­ly, min­i­mal tillage is also a crit­i­cal prac­tice that farm­ers can adopt. By reduc­ing soil dis­tur­bance, min­i­mal tillage main­tains soil struc­ture, pre­serves organ­ic mat­ter, and enhances water reten­tion. This prac­tice also reduces ero­sion and pro­tects the soil from the impacts of heavy rains and droughts.

For wide­spread adop­tion of these soil health tech­niques which must include crop rota­tion, a col­lec­tive effort is essen­tial. Media, coop­er­a­tives, and farmer groups must work togeth­er to raise aware­ness, just as we ral­ly dur­ing elec­tions. Soil health is a nation­al pri­or­i­ty that direct­ly impacts food secu­ri­ty and the econ­o­my. It’s time for all Kenyans to take respon­si­bil­i­ty, ensur­ing that farm­ers suc­ceed, which will lead to low­er food prices and a stronger econ­o­my. While the chal­lenge is sig­nif­i­cant, sim­ple, sus­tain­able prac­tices offer real solu­tions. Think green, act green!