Africa's soil fertility is declining year by year, resulting in plummeting crop yields, especially for small-scale farmers who eke out a living on small plots of land, averaging half a hectare.
While many factors are responsible for the decline in soil health, acidification has emerged as a major culprit due to over-reliance on chemical fertilisers such as DAP, CAN and urea for nitrogen supply.
British agricultural biotechnology company Regum Technology aims to save African soils from further degradation by using microbial biofertilisers proven to increase crop yields.
Founded in 2000, the company has spent the past 20 years researching natural microorganisms, both bacteria and fungi, that have the unique ability to capture the approximately 80% of nitrogen in the air and make it available to crops. Called “biological nitrogen fixers” (BNFs), these crop protection solutions are particularly well suited to “legume” crops, which include peas, soybeans, beans, etc.
Barriers to Biological Adoption in Africa
“Bio-based products are the future of agricultural productivity,” said Bruce Knight, co-founder and managing director of Regume Technology.
He added that synthetic fertilisers are generally too expensive for most farmers in Africa, and their increased use continues to affect soil health and cause other environmental problems.
A trained microbiologist with a special interest in soil and bacteria beneficial to crops, Knight set out in 2007 with a determination to provide smallholder farmers in Africa with a cost-effective alternative to expensive artificial nitrogen fertiliser.
That year, he attended a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation event in Arusha, Tanzania, where it became clear that there was little use of BNF on the African continent: for the vast majority of farmers, chemical fertilizers are the only input used to replenish nitrogen in the soil. This is in contrast to regions such as Latin America, where the adoption of biological fertilizers is more widespread.
In Africa, Regum Technology is one of the few companies providing inoculation technology to smallholder farmers and has gained first-hand experience of the challenges of biofertilizer adoption.
The company has been supplying legume molecules to at least 14 African countries for many years, but the packaging of these molecules has hindered adoption for many small farmers: the company's package size can handle roughly 100 kilograms of seed, too much for the majority of farmers who require an average of 30 kilograms.
Other local companies, such as MEA Ltd, which produces BioFix in Kenya, and IITA Business Incubation Platform, which is developing Nodumax in Nigeria, have had success packaging inoculants in sachets, but affordability remains a major barrier to widespread adoption. Locally produced products face restrictions on origin and quality, and performance is usually substandard.
“Right now we are competing with products made in Africa, which are cheaper and contain 5,000 times more bacteria, yet we face packaging challenges,” Knight explains.
He added that limited availability of quality crop inputs in small packages was a major constraint to realising the potential of biofertiliser products in many African countries.
Apart from packaging and affordability, another obstacle is the fact that most BNF on the market is limited to legume crops. In Africa, smallholder farmers grow a variety of crops, including non-legume crops such as maize, millet, sorghum and cassava.
On the African continent, the product has already proven effective: in Tanzania, soybean yields increased by 48%, and in Senegal, peanut production soared by 28%.
Regum Technology is currently making great strides in its efforts to promote the expansion of biofertilizer use in Africa.
Legume Technology's products. Solving packaging problems
This month, Legume Technology won a £2.15 million ($2.83 million) grant from the Gates Foundation and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to further develop its offering as an affordable and accessible agricultural input for small farmers.
The grant will enable the company to address two challenges that have hindered further penetration of BNF in Africa: packaging and crop diversification.
In terms of packaging, Legume Technology will design, build and install a new packaging line at its UK factory. The company will produce packets similar to those of potato chips quickly, economically and efficiently whilst maintaining high quality. These packs will be easy to transport and very affordable, whilst keeping the contents fresh and free of contamination.
As BNF is a living entity, quality packaging is crucial to maintaining its shelf life, so Legume Technology plans to replace the current product with a more user-friendly version, as well as a package size (50-100 grams) suitable for small-scale farmers.
Additionally, because the products are shipped in sterile packaging, they cannot be repackaged on-site, which would shorten their shelf life.
“Inside that little bag are microbes that have the power to transform the lives of millions of smallholder African farmers by helping them grow bigger, better crops and more productive harvests without harming the environment,” Knight says.
Beyond legumes
Beyond packaging, the grant will enable Legume Technologies to undertake a new three-year research program to identify microbes that act on staple crops other than legumes.
The company plans to work with research institutes, specialized microorganism banks, innovation centers and universities to collect and evaluate 50 BNF bacterial strains already known to have nitrogen fixing effects. These strains will then be screened in high-tech test chambers with “marked” nitrogen to identify the best performers and understand their potential.
The top 10 varieties are independently judged by the James Hutton Institute, one of the UK's most respected agricultural science experts.
Identifying a microbe that works on corn, a popular non-legume crop in Africa, is a challenge, Knight said, so Regume Technology has set a goal of having test samples by the middle of next year. By the end of the program, the company hopes to have a product ready for registration and commercialization in at least three African countries before expanding across the continent.
“The project includes domestic commercialization trials to validate the product, demonstrate its reliability and show the overall yield and quality benefits,” Knight said.
He added that Regum Technologies is not expecting any subsidies or cash incentives from African governments, but rather hopes that governments will streamline testing and registration procedures, many of which are highly cumbersome and have prevented agricultural biotech companies from expanding into the continent.
