231
submitted 3 months ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/world@lemmy.world

When Benson Wanjala started farming in his western Kenya village two and a half decades ago, his 10-acre farm could produce a bountiful harvest of 200 bags of maize. That has dwindled to 30. He says his once fertile soil has become a nearly lifeless field that no longer earns him a living.

Like many other farmers, he blames acidifying fertilizers pushed in Kenya and other African countries in recent years. He said he started using the fertilizers to boost his yield and it worked — until it didn’t. Kenya’s government first introduced a fertilizer subsidy in 2008, making chemical fertilizers more accessible for smaller-scale farmers.

Problems with soil health are growing as the African continent struggles to feed itself. Africa has 65% of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land but has spent about $60 billion annually to import food, according to the African Development Bank. The spending is estimated to jump to $110 billion by 2025 due to increased demand and changing consumption habits.

“Inorganic fertilizers were never meant to be the foundation of crop production,” he said, later adding that because of “commercially inclined farming, our soils are now poor, acidic, and low in biomass resources, and without life!”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago

This is what happened in North Korea. The widespread use of fertilizers to keep fields producing instead of leaving the soil to rest for a season or rotate crops to revitalize the earth caused the soil to become inhospitable to plants. That's the crux of the NK famine that started in the 90s.

Africa has history to learn from. Let's hope there is change.

[-] The_v@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

No it's not what happened to North Korea at all. I have no clue where you got that from.

The collapse of the Soviet Union cutting off food, fuel, fertilizer, and technology support started it.

Then torrential rainfall and flooding destroyed that years crop and food storage in the main production regions. It also destroyed many of their hydroelectric dams and irrigation systems. Without support from the soviets they had no way to repair them.

However the main reason hundreds of thousands of not millions died was because of the governments unwillingness to open their borders for international aide/trade. The government deliberately starved their population.

[-] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

I got it from here, but then followed it up with some googling of NK agriculture and recipes. NK farms push soil too far, use industrial farming methods at the expense of local wisdom, and have no respect for nature - causing them to look like frail idiots who can't sustain themselves without imports.

this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2024
231 points (97.1% liked)

World News

38978 readers
1365 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS