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How to reclaim soils lost fertility

Using water from a recent downpour, locals sift the surrounding soil using makeshift sluices.

For a long time, most farmers in Kenya and elsewhere have held on to the belief that sandy soils are not suited for agricultural production.

Sandy soils have largely been overlooked owing to their soil texture and structure that rapidly loses water and nutrients from crop roots. In Kenya, sandy soils are found mainly in the arid and semi-arid areas of Eastern and North Eastern Kenya. In these regions, the vegetation is highly scanty on about 0.1 million hectares of potentially arable land.

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