Agriculture Stakeholders in Rwanda have called for incentives to support organic farmers and also help link them to buyers inside and outside the country.
The call is based on a study which established that the use of chemical fertilizers alone without organic fertilizers or using chemical fertilizers in improper ways is causing soil degradation and could trigger a decrease in agricultural productivity in the coming years if nothing is done.
Conservation researcher Elias Bizuru who is also a lecturer at University of Rwanda said “There is need for more efforts to get more organic fertilizers available and accessible to farmers,” explaining that increasing the organic fertilizers ensures soil fertility improvement.
At least 40% of 2, 635 farmers who participated in the study whose findings were recently released confirmed that chemical fertilizers application alone contributes to soil degradation. It was carried out in the districts include Gisagara, Rubavu, Gicumbi, Nyamasheke, Musanze, Bugesera, Nyaruguru and Huye.
Environmental concern
The investigations have found that there is the lowest use of organic fertilizers in these districts compared to the use of chemical fertilizers. Over 60% of households reported using a lot of chemical fertilizers and only 20% using organic fertilizers in Musanze district.
About 60% in Nyaruguru confirmed using chemical fertilizers and only 15% using organic fertilizers. The study found that 50% were using chemical fertilizers and 15% were using organic fertilizers in Nyamasheke while about 50% were using chemical fertilizers and only about five per cent using organic fertilizers in Rubavu District.
“The key environmental concern associated with inorganic fertilizer use is pollution from soil erosion run-off into surface water. Estimates based on spatial analysis showed that between 47% and 37% of the country’s arable land experiences soil erosion with much of it ending up as deposition in rivers according to a previous study by UNEP,” said Bizuru.
The researcher recommends integrating the use of organic fertilizers and mapping potential sources or raw materials for organic fertilizers adding that factories producing organic fertilizers should also be established in the country with the role of private sector.
