Kakaire A. Kirunda
10 September 2008
Implementing alternative soil fertility management and a reduction in crop tillage, according to scientists, can help small-scale farmers to increase crop outputs.
This development followed the teaming up of scientists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the National Agricultural Research Organisation's (Naro) Kawanda Agriculture Research Institute and local farmers in eastern Uganda to evaluate the effectiveness of low-cost alternatives for soil treatment.
Research was conducted with farmers to evaluate soil fertility management practices in sorghum-based cropping systems including: mucuna fallow; cowpea rotation with sorghum; animal manure application; Nitrogen and Phosphorus fertiliser application; and reduced tillage.
This saw four studies, comprising of 142 on-farm trials, conducted at three locations between 2003 and 2005 in drought-prone parts of eastern Uganda.
According to the findings that were published in the Agronomy Journal, Mucuna on average produced seven mega grams per hectare per year of aboveground dry matter containing 160 kg Nitrogen per hectare per year across the three locations.
It also emerged that the application of 2.5 Mega grams per hectare per year of manure and of 30 kg of Nitrogen plus 10 kg of Phosphorus per hectare per year increased grain yield by 1.05 and 1.30 Mega grams per hectare per year, respectively.
Similarly, a combination of 2.5 Mega grams per hectare of manure with 30 kg of Nitrogen per hectare increased grain yield by 1.50 Mega grams per hectare above the control (1.1 Mega grams per hectare). And the increase in sorghum grain yield in response to 30 kg of Nitrogen per hectare alone, to a mucuna fallow, and to a rotation with cowpea was 1.15, 1.55, and 0.82 Mega grams per hectare, respectively.
"These soil fertility management practices, as well as reduced tillage, were found to be cost effective in increasing sorghum yield in the predominantly smallholder agriculture where inorganic fertiliser was not used much," read the findings of the study that was made possible with funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (Usaid).
"On-farm profitability and food security for sorghum production systems can be improved by use of inorganic fertilisers, manure, mucuna fallow, sorghum - cowpea rotation, and reduced tillage."
In a published interview, one of the research authors, Charles S. Wortmann, said farmers now participate in extension activities to inform colleagues in other communities about this menu of management alternatives.
"This approach to research and extension takes advantage of the local knowledge of farmers, is cost-effective, and is easily replicable for addressing crop production problems of small scale farmers throughout Africa," he said.
While agriculture is the mainstay of over 80 percent of Uganda's population, which is mostly rural based, improving the productivity of the weathered soils in the country is a major challenge for small-scale, resource-poor farmers.
Yet many Ugandan farmers, most of them at subsistence levels, are forced to work with soils with limited nitrogen and phosphorous availability.
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