scholarly journals Valuing Waste – A Multi-method Analysis of the Use of Household Refuse from Cooking and Sanitation for Soil Fertility Management in Tanzanian Smallholdings

2020 ◽  
pp. 91-122
Author(s):  
Ariane Krause
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Available Phosphorus ◽  
Agricultural Activity ◽  
Biogas Slurry ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Soil P ◽  
Fertility Management ◽  
Human Excreta ◽  
Sub Saharan

AbstractThe starting point of this work is the intention of two farmers’ initiatives to disseminate locally developed and adapted cooking and sanitation technologies to smallholder households in Karagwe District, in northwest Tanzania. These technologies include improved cooking stoves (ICSs), such as microgasifiers, and a system combining biogas digesters and burners for cooking, as well as urine-diverting dry toilets, and thermal sterilisation/pasteurisation for ecological sanitation (EcoSan). Switching to the new alternatives could lead to a higher availability of domestic residues for soil fertility management. These residues include biogas slurry from anaerobic digestion, powdery biochar from microgasifiers and sanitised human excreta from EcoSan facilities. Such recycling-driven approaches address an existing problem for many smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa, namely, the lack of soil amenders to sufficiently replenish soil nutrients and soil organic matter (SOM) in soils used for agricultural activity. This example from Tanzania systematically examines the nexus of ‘energy-sanitation-agriculture’ in smallholder farming systems. The short-term experiments demonstrated that all soil amenders that were analysed could significantly enhance crop productivity. CaSa-compost – the product of co-composting biochar with sanitised human excreta – quadrupled grain yields. The observed stimulation of crop yield and also plant nutrition is attributed to improved nutrient availability caused by a direct increase of soil pH and of plant-available phosphorus (P) in the soil. The assessment of the lasting soil implications revealed that CaSa-compost and biogas slurry both show the long-term potential to roughly double yields of maize. Corresponding nutrient requirements can be adequately compensated through residue capturing and subsistence production of soil amenders. The potential of CaSa-compost for sustainable soil fertility management is superior to that of standard compost, especially with respect to liming, replenishing soil P and restoring SOM. Biogas slurry, however, yields inferior results in all aspects when compared to compost amendments.

scholarly journals Integrated soil fertility management in sub-Saharan Africa: unravelling local adaptation

SOIL ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 491-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Vanlauwe ◽  
K. Descheemaeker ◽  
K. E. Giller ◽  
J. Huising ◽  
R. Merckx ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Integrated Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Farm Level ◽  
Fertility Management ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract. Intensification of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is necessary to address rural poverty and natural resource degradation. Integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) is a means to enhance crop productivity while maximizing the agronomic efficiency (AE) of applied inputs, and can thus contribute to sustainable intensification. ISFM consists of a set of best practices, preferably used in combination, including the use of appropriate germplasm, the appropriate use of fertilizer and of organic resources, and good agronomic practices. The large variability in soil fertility conditions within smallholder farms is also recognized within ISFM, including soils with constraints beyond those addressed by fertilizer and organic inputs. The variable biophysical environments that characterize smallholder farming systems have profound effects on crop productivity and AE, and targeted application of agro-inputs and management practices is necessary to enhance AE. Further, management decisions depend on the farmer's resource endowments and production objectives. In this paper we discuss the "local adaptation" component of ISFM and how this can be conceptualized within an ISFM framework, backstopped by analysis of AE at plot and farm level. At plot level, a set of four constraints to maximum AE is discussed in relation to "local adaptation": soil acidity, secondary nutrient and micronutrient (SMN) deficiencies, physical constraints, and drought stress. In each of these cases, examples are presented whereby amendments and/or practices addressing these have a significantly positive impact on fertilizer AE, including mechanistic principles underlying these effects. While the impact of such amendments and/or practices is easily understood for some practices (e.g. the application of SMNs where these are limiting), for others, more complex processes influence AE (e.g. water harvesting under varying rainfall conditions). At farm scale, adjusting fertilizer applications to within-farm soil fertility gradients has the potential to increase AE compared with blanket recommendations, in particular where fertility gradients are strong. In the final section, "local adaption" is discussed in relation to scale issues and decision support tools are evaluated as a means to create a better understanding of complexity at farm level and to communicate appropriate scenarios for allocating agro-inputs and management practices within heterogeneous farming environments.

scholarly journals Integrated soil fertility management in sub-Saharan Africa: unravelling local adaptation

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1239-1286 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Vanlauwe ◽  
K. Descheemaeker ◽  
K. E. Giller ◽  
J. Huising ◽  
R. Merckx ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Integrated Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Farm Level ◽  
Fertility Management ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract. Intensification of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is necessary to address rural poverty and natural resource degradation. Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) is a means to enhance crop productivity while maximizing the agronomic efficiency (AE) of applied inputs, and can thus contribute to sustainable intensification. ISFM consists of a set of best practices, preferably used in combination, including the use of appropriate germplasm, the appropriate use of fertilizer and of organic resources, and good agronomic practices. The large variability in soil fertility conditions within smallholder farms is also recognised within ISFM, including soils with constraints beyond those addressed by fertilizer and organic inputs. The variable biophysical environments that characterize smallholder farming systems have profound effects on crop productivity and AE and targeted application of limited agro-inputs and management practices is necessary to enhance AE. Further, management decisions depend on the farmer's resource endowments and production objectives. In this paper we discuss the "local adaptation" component of ISFM and how this can be conceptualized within an ISFM framework, backstopped by analysis of AE at plot and farm level. At plot level, a set of four constraints to maximum AE is discussed in relation to "local adaptation": soil acidity, secondary nutrient and micro-nutrient (SMN) deficiencies, physical constraints, and drought stress. In each of these cases, examples are presented whereby amendments and/or practices addressing these have a significantly positive impact on fertilizer AE, including mechanistic principles underlying these effects. While the impact of such amendments and/or practices is easily understood for some practices (e.g., the application of SMNs where these are limiting), for others, more complex interactions with fertilizer AE can be identified (e.g., water harvesting under varying rainfall conditions). At farm scale, adjusting fertilizer applications within-farm soil fertility gradients has the potential to increase AE compared with blanket recommendations, in particular where fertility gradients are strong. In the final section, "local adaption" is discussed in relation to scale issues and decision support tools are evaluated as a means to create a better understanding of complexity at farm level and to communicate best scenarios for allocating agro-inputs and management practices within heterogeneous farming environments.

scholarly journals Soil Fertility Management for Better Crop Production

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1349
Author(s):  
John Havlin ◽  
Ron Heiniger
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Nutrient Use Efficiency ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Fertility Management

Increasing crop productivity per unit of land area to meet future food and fiber demand increases both soil nutrient removal and the importance of replenishing soil fertility through efficient nutrient management practices. Significant progress in enhancing nutrient-use efficiency in production agriculture requires improved estimates of plant-available nutrients in the root zone, enhanced crop response to applied nutrients, and reduced offsite nutrient transport. This special issue, Soil Fertility Management for Better Crop Production, presents 15 manuscripts that advance our knowledge of interrelated soil, plant, and management factors important to increasing the nutrient availability and crop recovery of applied nutrients.

Manure and Soil Fertility Management in Sub-Humid and Semi-Arid Farming Systems of Sub-Saharan Africa: Experiences from Kenya

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 166-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.D. Onduru ◽  
P. Snijders ◽  
F.N. Muchena ◽  
B. Wouters ◽  
A. De Jager ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Fertility Management ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Semi Arid

Integrated soil fertility management in sub-Saharan Africa.

2017 ◽  
pp. 25-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Nalivata ◽  
C. Kibunja ◽  
J. Mutegi ◽  
F. Tetteh ◽  
B. Tarfa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Integrated Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Fertility Management ◽  
Sub Saharan

Soil and Soil Fertility Management Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henk Mutsaers ◽  
Danny Coyne ◽  
Stefan Hauser ◽  
Jeroen Huising ◽  
Alpha Kamara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Management Research ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Fertility Management ◽  
Sub Saharan

Soil Fertility Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

2017 ◽  
pp. 205-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cargele Masso ◽  
Generose Nziguheba ◽  
James Mutegi ◽  
Corinne Galy-Lacaux ◽  
John Wendt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Fertility Management ◽  
Sub Saharan
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document