Agricultural experts and farmers have made a case for increased finance to scale up soil health testing technology as a way of ensuring that fertilizers and seeds are applied on land that is suitable for them.

The call was made on Monday, September 2, at the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, where over 5,000 delegates gathered to discuss agriculture and ways to improve food security in week-long deliberations.

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Soil testing technologies are important in optimizing crop production, protecting the environment from contamination excessive use of fertilizers, the experts said.

Reliable testing capabilities also help in diagnosing of plant problems, informs farmers on ways to improve nutritional balance of the soil.

Knowing the nutrient content of the soil allows farmers to avoid under or over-fertilization, the experts observed. With the right technologies in use, they said that the African continent can reduce its dependence on food imports.

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Alexandre Rutikanga, the Chief Technical Advisor in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, noted that increased use of technology in agriculture holds the key to the commercialization of the sector, on which more than 85 per cent of Rwandans rely.

"We believe that technology has a critical role in steering a vibrant, commercial, and modern agricultural sector that sustainably supports Rwanda’s development, its national aspirations for food security, and long-term goals,” Rutikanga said.

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Florence Sifa Sangwa, a farmer who attended the food summit, said that insufficient use of soil health testing technology in the country could lead to lower agricultural productivity as farmers are not well informed about the right seeds and the amount of fertilizers needed in the soil.

"The technology to test soil health to know the nutrients needed before planting the seeds and applying fertilizers is available but it is used by a limited number of farmers,” Sangwa noted.

"Government, partners and financiers should join efforts to help farmers have access to these technologies, which will lead to more yields,” she said, adding that soil health testing capabilities are needed to faster agriculture modernization.

As fertilizers factories and seed multipliers are increasingly their investment, Sangwa said there was hope among farmers that investment in soil health technologies will also increase.

Simone Sala, the Director of Global Soil and Ecosystem Solutions at Varda AG, said they are partnering with YARA, a fertilizer distribution company in Rwanda, to scale up data on soil health t in countries including Rwanda.

He said their project called SoilHive, a digital platform, consolidates and harmonizes soil data from public and private data sources based on voluntary contributions.

He noted that the digital tools and crop solutions help in efficient use of water and timely application of the nutrients.

Sala added that there is need for enhanced finance to modernize agriculture including producing soil data for farmers.

"There is so little finance dedicated to the food sector and we need much more. This is one of the first challenges affecting particularly farmers. They will need more resources to be able to improve the way they farm in a sustainable way," he said.

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Priscilla Wakarera, the Co-founder of RHEA, a soil management company, said they started with Bugesera District to build digital sensors to enable precision agriculture for smallholder farmers by testing soil health.

The firm collects soil nutritional data to inform to inform farmers about soil status and recommends required improvements.

"We need to be creative to provide access to the soil data for smallholder farmers, and providing them with recommendations that are very tailored for their locations," Wakarera said.

She added that the solutions should also be made affordable for the farmers.

"The main challenge for smallholder farmers is access to knowledge about soil health and knowledge about the importance of soil analysis,” she said, adding that certain technologies are still expensive for farmers.