Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe speaks at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) in Kabete on September 29, 2026/ SCREENGRAB
About 63 per cent of Kenya’s arable land is acidic, with nearly seven million acres classified as strongly acidic, Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has said.
The finding has prompted the government to roll out a national soil testing and mapping system aimed at ensuring fertiliser recommendations and agricultural support are matched to the condition of farmers’ land.
Kagwe said the country could not continue applying the same fertiliser recommendations to soils with different nutrient levels and acidity.
“A bag of the wrong fertiliser, delivered on time, at half the price, to the wrong soil, is still the wrong fertiliser,” Kagwe said.
“Subsidy without a soil test is sympathy. It is not strategy.”
He spoke at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) in Kabete, where he launched the National Soil Partnership, the National Soil Laboratory Network and the national rollout of the Global Soil Doctors Programme.
He also handed over refurbished KALRO Soil Chemistry Laboratories valued at Sh220 million.
The National Soil Partnership will bring together the national and county governments, KALRO, universities and the private sector to coordinate soil-health activities and share information.
The National Soil Laboratory Network will establish common standards for soil testing, while the Global Soil Doctors Programme will train farmers to understand their soils and share the knowledge with other farmers.
Kagwe said the government and KALRO were analysing about 77,000 soil samples from 45 counties and would publish county-level soil fertility maps.
The information is expected to help determine the nutrients available in different areas and guide recommendations on fertiliser and other soil amendments.
Kagwe said the government would also work towards linking soil test results with the Kenya Integrated Agricultural Management Information System (KIAMIS), which has more than eight million registered farmers.
The proposed linkage would allow information on individual farms to increasingly inform the type of agricultural inputs recommended to farmers.
Kagwe said his own farming experience showed the cost of applying fertiliser without knowing what the soil needs.
He said he once bought the fertiliser commonly used in his area, only to discover through soil testing that he had been adding nutrients his land already contained while failing to supply others that were lacking.
“I was not farming. I was gambling. I was farming blind,” Kagwe said.
He compared soil testing with medical diagnosis, drawing on his previous experience as Health Cabinet Secretary.
Kagwe said doctors examine patients before prescribing treatment, yet farmers have often applied similar fertiliser products to soils with different conditions.
The Cabinet secretary said the refurbished soil chemistry laboratories at Kabete would help reduce the time taken to process soil samples and provide results to farmers.
“A soil result that arrives after the rains have come is a historical document, not a farming decision,” Kagwe said.
He called on county governments to co-finance soil testing and bring the services closer to farmers.
Kagwe also called for greater use of lime in acidic soils and restoration of organic matter.
He said the government would continue its crackdown on counterfeit, expired and substandard agricultural inputs, saying soil testing would have limited value if the contents of farm products did not match their labels.
Kagwe further appealed to the Public Service Commission to allow KALRO to recruit more researchers, saying the organisation needs additional expertise to use 170 pieces of research equipment expected to arrive.
“We cannot invest in equipment and then lack the people to put it to work. KALRO needs sufficient researchers to turn that investment into practical solutions for our farmers,” he said.
