Mbeya is easy to make and uses locally available resources.
This is a fertilizer rich in all nutrients required by the soil to improve and maintain soil structure, texture, soil colour, soil depth, soil aeration, etc., while improving and maintaining soil fertility. Use Mbeya because it is cheap and highly enriches soil nutrients.
Materials for Making Mbeya
• Maize brain ( madeya)
• Ash ( phulusa)
• Animal manure/ dungs (ndomwe)
• Fertilizer (either for basal or top dressing)
• Water (madzi)
• Plastic bag (thumba lachipepala mkati)
• Shovel
• Clean sheet for mixing the mixtures.
Making Mbeya Fertilizer
• 20 kgs of madeya
• 20 kgs of animal manure
• 10 kgs of ash
• 10 kgs of fertilizer
• 5-10 liters of water
Divide the above materials into three portions.
Mix slowly the ingredients according to the portions until they are all fine (mixed well ) and mix into one plastic bag.
HINT: cattle dung is not suitable to be used in this manure because it takes a long time to ferment and is light in weight.
Make sure that non-breakable dung (e.g., that of goats) is pounded before mixed with other material for easy fermentation.
After mixing, tie the mouth with a string and put in an aerated place (eg in ash) for 21 days. And it is now ready to be used.
Strengths of Mbeya Fertilizer:
• Use of madeya helps in the fast and quick fermentation of mixture.
• Use of animal manure, attracts bacteria to ferment the mixture.
• Ash contains Sulphur, which prohibits the growth of striga asiatica (witch weed).
• Generally Mbeya manure plays a major role in soil improvement.
• Lastly, farmers should be encouraged to use Mbeya manure, which is a mixture of fertilizer, organic manure, and other soil nutrient additives combined into a single compound.