Farmers turn to dry cow dung as fertiliser cost on steep rise

Hundreds of maize farmers in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya’s food basket, are turning to dry cow dung manure instead of the expensive option — commercial fertilisers — to cut costs.

Until recently, most farmers ignored cow dung manure and instead opted for commercial fertilisers such as Double Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) for planting.

But the high cost of production occasioned by the skyrocketing prices of inputs has forced majority of small scale farmers to explore more affordable options.

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At the moment, a 50kg bag of DAP costs between Sh3,500 and Sh4,000, an amount most farmers cannot afford.

Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) sells dry cow-dung manure for Sh500 per tonne.

Traffic at ADC farms

Smart Harvest established that several farmers are flocking to ADC farms in Endebess to buy the commodity as the planting season kicks off.

For a month now, Sabwani ADC farm has recorded high number of farmers buying manure. The farm has large number of herds reared by the ADC, a firm mandated to enhance food security in the county.

“We are buying the manure because we cannot meet the cost of commercial fertiliser. We also want to improve yields,’’ Daniel Tum, a maize farmer says.

Tum is among hundreds of farmers in the county yet to sell last season maize to enable them procure inputs for the planting exercise.

Jack Wafula, another farmer in Kapomboi, is using the manure on his maize farms.

He says he has used it before and it helped him to improve soil fertility and yields.

“The manure has not only saved me from the high cost of commercial fertiliser but has also improved soil fertility and yields,’’ says Wafula.

Wafula says previously, he used to harvest between 5 and 10 bags from an acre but since he started applying organic manure, yields have shot to 20 bags.

Other than being cheap, use of dried cow-dung manure helps to reduce acidity levels in the soils.

An official at ADC says the commodity is not enough to meet the demand from farmers.

Subsidised fertiliser

This year, the national government has not provided farmers with subsidised fertilisers, a situation that has compelled most of the farmers to turn to cheaper options.

Delay by the national government to buy last season maize from farmers has put most them in an awkward position as they struggle to raise money to prepare their farms and buy inputs ahead of the planting season.

Only a handful of farmers managed to deliver the crop to the National Cereals and Produce Board depot in Kitale before the exercise was halted due to lack of storage bags.

Those who were lucky to deliver their maize will receive Sh2,500 per 90 kg bag.

This means a farmer has to sell 3 bags of maize weighing 90 kg in order to buy one bag of DAP fertiliser.

The maize situation

Last month, NCPB turned away hundreds of farmers who have been camping at the Kitale depot due to lack of storage bags.

Since December, several farmers have pitched tent at the depot hoping to sell their produce only to be turned away at the last minute. Depot manager Laurine Odhiambo told farmers that there are no gunny bags and asked them to deliver their crop to other NCPB depots in Kisumu and Bungoma counties.

“We are not accepting more maize delivery because there is no storage bags. Deliver your grains to our neighboring depots,’’ Odhiambo told the farmers.

Irked by the announcement, the farmers staged a demo accusing the State of ignoring their plight.

“We expected to sell our crop but we have been turned away. There is no future in maize farming,’’ said Benson Giteru.  

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