Over the last year, extreme weather events, supply chain disruptions and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict have all contributed to record-breaking increases in fertilizer prices.

With this rise in input costs, farmers are looking to adjust their planting strategies and explore alternative options to traditional fertilizers. Producing and using conventional fertilizers is a significant contributor to emissions and greenhouse gases. In addition, overuse of fertilizers, based on outdated methods and information is a huge problem. Therefore, environmentalists have been pushing for alternative methods for a long time.

While scientific approaches such as soil spectroscopy or precise microdosing might help to reduce the reliance on and overuse of conventional fertilizers, another way to reduce the impact is to adopt farming methods that improve the quality of soil.

Practices such as conservation tillage, cover crops and crop rotation are ways to improve the fertility of soil, while reducing the overall climate impacts of agriculture.

From the original article:

Leigh Ann Winowiecki, a soil systems scientist at the research organisation CIFOR-ICRAF [an AICCRA partner] in Nairobi, Kenya, says farmyard manure has a host of benefits: providing nutrients to the plants, improving soil structure, and increasing the soil's ability to hold water.

"Our research has also shown that inputs of compost and composted farmyard manure increases the effectiveness of synthetic fertilisers," reports Ms Winowiecki.

She says that in eastern Kenya it could be a practical solution as "most farmers have at least one cow near the homestead".