Chris Kiwawulo
4 September 2008
Kampala — Farmers should combine natural and artificial fertilisers for sustainable crop productivity, an environment expert has advised.
Dr. Festus Bagora, the director of environment monitoring at the National Environmental Management Authority, said dependence on either natural or artificial materials affected crop productivity.
He said Ugandan soils have lost fertility and needed to be replenished.
Bagora said this during a public dialogue on sustainable land management at Hotel Equatoria in Kampala on Tuesday.
The workshop also debated organic versus inorganic agriculture.
Sarah Mujuzi, an animal scientist with Volunteer Efforts for Development Concerns, said farmers deplete about 1.2% of the soil nutrients every year.
Mujuzi said Uganda uses 24kg of fertilizers per hectare every year, leading to a 0.31% decrease in crop productivity.
She noted that organic farming increases income for small scale farmers but is bad for large scale farmers, as it requires bulk labour and delays returns.
Mujuzi added that organic manure and conventional fertilisers compliment each other and it would be dangerous to use only one.
"Farmers must make rational decisions for sustainable crop production," she noted.
Prof. Julius Zake, the manager of the presidential initiative on banana industrial development in Bushenyi, noted that the current agricultural practices take more nutrients from the soils than what nature replenishes.
Zake said artificial fertilizers are the best for adding potassium which bananas need most.
Officials from Amfri Farms and the National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda called for increased research in organic farming practices to increase crop productivity.
Julian Nyachwo, an agribusiness adviser, said prohibition of conventional practices reduced crop yields by between 30 - 50%. She called for integrated farming systems.
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