A Lab technician at Grain Pulse Limited Facility in Muknono explains about quality checks of poultry and animal feed materials and finished products. PHOTO/LOMINDA AFEDRARU
It is a known fact that the use of soil in Uganda by farmers over a number of years is causing the soils to become infertile for the users to realise increased crop yields.
As such, soil scientists recommend farmers to adopt use of both organic and inorganic fertiliser use to increase the soil fertility.
This is coupled with accessing and using quality inputs such as improved and pest and disease-free seeds, which are also drought tolerant.
However, in Uganda, most farmers are adopting use of organic fertiliser, sometimes referred to as manure, especially vegetable farmers.
However, commercial farmers using inorganic fertiliser such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), Urea, Muriate of potash and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), among others, purchase each type of fertiliser separately, making it costly.
It is the reason agricultural input companies have come up to process and blend fertiliser for the farmer to take a product comprising of various fertiliser type but blended to make one product.
Background
Fertiliser is a vital input for agriculture, but its use in Africa is still low. The continent's soils are among the oldest and poorest in the world and the quality of farmland has been declining for decades. This has led to poor agricultural productivity and food insecurity.
The Abuja Declaration on Fertiliser for the Africa Green Revolution was endorsed in 2006 by African leaders to address these issues.
The declaration aimed to increase fertiliser use and make it more affordable for farmers. However, despite the declaration, Africa's fertiliser use is still below the target of 50 kilogrammes per hectare of arable land. Soil scientists across Africa are now advocating for farmers to adopt blended inorganic fertiliser, which can be used for various crops at once
Africa countries that have adopted blending of fertiliser include Ethiopia, which has five blending plants, although some of the blends are poorly targeted. The other country is Zimbabwe, with two companies producing and blending NPK granular.
Uganda is coming on board with Grain Pulse Limited blending and trading blended fertiliser, including blended manure.
What to consider when blending fertiliser
Grain Pulse Limited has a fertiliser blending facility in Mukono, with machinery capable of producing 50 tonnes of blended fertiliser per hour.
It has the capacity to produce 300,000 metric tonnes annually, although currently, the production rate is less since the stitching of the bags has not been electrified, thereby causing delays.
Mr Andrew Kalyango, a food chemist, who is also the quality controller of the blending process, explains that when blending fertiliser, the things to consider include compatibility, where the chemical, physical and humidity of the fertiliser materials are assessed.
Consideration of the existing nutrients in soil affect how well plants can absorb fertiliser. This means the blending team goes on ground to pick soil samples across the country to establish what nutrients are required.
This calls for farmers to also test their soils before application of the blended fertiliser for a specific crop.
The soil tests also establish the right soil pH and soil microbial activities.
The blending production process
Hope Tagalika is the blending plant operator and she notes that her team blends specific fertiliser for specific crops namely sugarcane, tea, cereals mainly maize, sorghum, legume crops, vegetables and fruits among others.
Since the company does not manufacture, its management imports different fertiliser types from known sources. The production team knows which fertilisers to blend to come up with a final product. A case in point is blending boron with magnesium sulphate to come up with blended fertiliser for tomato farmers.
There are three hopers where each fertiliser type is poured and two other smaller hopers for feeding micronutrients required by the soil and plant.
The team can decide to come up with a product comprising of Urea, Amonia and potash which are fed into each hoper.
The two small hopers are then fed with material comprising of essential nutrients and all are released and discharged at a time to achieve the mixture.
After blending the material is fed into bags and stitched ready for dispatch. The good beat is that the quality controller programmes for quality check in a computerised system.
Organic fertiliser
Organic fertiliser comprises mainly of waste, which include agricultural waste. Soil scientists recommend farmers to adopt it to increase soil fertility. It holds soil moisture and allows essential organisms to move freely in the soil
The team at Grain Pulse has identified processors of organic fertiliser, who mix agricultural waste, which is left to be fermented by black soldier flies.
It is then processed into powder and supplied to the company, which is blended NPK.
The packaging is in a 50 kilogramme bag called Pro Nova. This can be applied in maize, coffee and banana farms.
There is another type called organic fertiliser processed from chicken droppings and blended with NPK. It is recommended for fruit, vegetable, banana and coffee farmers.
