Soil acidity has been largely blamed for poor yields in Nyanza and the Western region, posing a threat to food security.
This follows a soil testing campaign that was carried out by the Kenya Crops and Dairy Markets Systems (KCDMS) in collaboration with OCP Africa and county governments.
The campaigns were carried out during the month of August in nine counties namely Kisumu, Kakamega, Siaya, Busia, Vihiga, Migori, Bungoma and Homabay.
It established that over 35% of arable land in the area was acidic.
According to KCDMS Technical Director Seth Yake, the campaign revealed significant deficiencies in key nutrients and micro-nutrients including phosphorous, potassium, Sulphur, copper, and zinc.
Yake said over time, soil acidity has led to declining productivity in this region.
He noted that currently, statistics show that farmers who used to harvest 30 bags of maize per acre are now managing just about four bags.
"The acidity level can be due to inappropriate use of fertilizers, continuous cropping which has resulted into nutrient leeching and loss of organic carbon," he said.
Speaking during the soil test results validation meeting in Kisumu, stakeholders noted that there was a need for concerted efforts to train smallholder farmers in the area on good agricultural practices.
Yake noted that this will aid the farmers a lot including giving support on soil amendment remedies to boost productivity.
"I want to call upon various stakeholders and county governments to support farmers in Liming because this has been identified as an effective correctional practice to restore soil health and boost production," he said.
He added that it was also important for the farmers to use the right fertilisers to ensure that they increase their yields per acre.
OCP Africa Chief Agronomist Peter Bwire said the 2, 359 soil samples taken from the eight counties showed that some counties had over 50% of arable land acidic.
Bwire said there was a need for the adoption of good farming practices to help replenish the soil PH levels.
During the meeting, the Kisii CEC for Agriculture Elijah Obwori called for the enactment of soil improvement policies in county governments in the area.
Obwori said such policies when passed will help them to scale up soil testing and research within the counties.
Nehemiah Odongo an Agro-dealer rooted for continuous soil testing in the region to enable farmers to take the right steps to correct the soil.
With the cost of testing averaging Sh1,500 per sample, he said most farmers do not see the need for the exercise dealing a blow to efforts to restore soil health in the area.