George Muturi checks the progress in one of his vermicompost beds at his farm in Lari district, Kiambu county on August 12, 2026. Agriculture is vital to East Africa's economy, but a 2025 soil report by German NGO Heinrich Boll Foundation found that more than 40 percent of the region's soils were degraded -- in part by overuse of chemical fertilisers -- costing more than $65 billion a year in lost productivity. Fertiliser prices have also increased this year due to the war in the Middle East, driving a search for alternatives. In Kenya, 32 percent of cropland was classified as strongly acidic in the soil report. Changing climatic conditions and overly intensive farming practices are among the causes, but Muturi says moving away from chemical fertilisers has boosted his harvests at his farm in Lari, about 50 kilometres from the capital, Nairobi. (Photo by Tony KARUMBA / AFP via Getty Images)