Kenya: A woman in Subukia, Nakuru County, has come up with an organic manure that farmers are embracing instead of the expensive chemical-based fertilisers.

Tabitha Nyambura, 20, says she was inspired to make the fertilisers because she knows too well how expensive the chemical one is.

“I wanted to give farmers a solution to that headache. Mine is cheap, simple and has no harmful chemicals,” Nyambura tells Smart Harvest at their farm in Edgewood valley Subukia.

Horticulture experts recommend organic fertilisers as opposed to chemical-based fertilisers.

Tabitha’s project is practical knowledge of research, which she learned one evening after reading a magazine about organic farming that her father Joseph Wanjeng’u used to keep.

“I read a lot on organic farming and that is how I got the fodder to come up with my invention. From my reading I got a lot of useful information which helped me come up with this manure,” she shares.

Popular with farmers

She made the fertilisers and asked her father if she could use it on his farm.

“I did my mixture and used it on dad’s vegetable farm. The crops were greener and healthier. My dad liked it very much,” Nyambura shares.

At this point, her dad, Mr Wanjeng’u jumps in: “Yes I liked it. It is good fertiliser and saves me the cost of buying DAP (Di-Ammonium Phosphates) fertilisers which are expensive.”

Nyambura makes the highly nitrogenous fertiliser from Tithonia plant (diverfosifolier) leaves.

Tithonia is a plant which has beautiful flowers making it popular for beautifying home gardens.

“Most people just see the flowers but they do not know that the plant has high nitrogen content and other micronutrients which are good for making manure. I learnt that important info in one of the magazines,” Nyambura discloses.

The process

Some people in her neighbourhood use the plant as a herbal medicine for treating stomach upsets.

So how does she make this manure? She says the process, starts by chopping the leaves into small pieces, then she mixes them with a little molasses at ratio of about 200ml for every 30 litres of water. Water is used to reduce viscosity.

“The mixture is then put in a sisal sack and its mouth tied before dipping it into a bucket of water. The content is then tightly closed and stored for 14 days,” she demonstrates.

Nyambura says the molasses act as a catalyst which speeds up fermentation. The process is complete after 14 days and the contents can be removed from the sack.

During the process, Tithonia leaves ferment; nitrogenous content is extracted from the leaves in form of a solution. The solution is then cleaned by either decantation or sieved to remove dirt or unwanted particles.

“The solution is a highly concentrated nitrogenous fertiliser, which can be sealed and stored for use,” Nyambura says.

Future plans

She recommends a measurement of 40ml of the solution for every 20litres of water and sprayed to the crops as foliar feeds.

The refined organic manure, she says, is being supplied to the local farmers in the neighbourhood to grow vegetables, maize and beans.

So far those who have used the fertiliser have reported impressive yields.

The content, according to Nyambura is also rich in potassium and calcium and other micronutrients essential for various crops which include vegetables, maize, beans and potatoes.

Nyambura now works at a flower farm in Subukia and wishes to expand her project to reach more farmers.