Approaches to improve soil fertility in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Soil fertility provides the foundation for nutritious food production and resilient and sustainable livelihoods. A comprehensive survey and summit meeting were conducted with the aims of understanding barriers to enhancing soil fertility in sub-Saharan Africa and providing evidence-based recommendations. The focus regions were West Africa, East Africa, the Great Lakes region, and Ethiopia. Overall recommendations were developed with four emerging themes: (1) strengthening inorganic fertilizer-based systems, (2) access to and use of quality organic inputs, (3) capacity building along the entire knowledge-transfer value chain, and (4) strengthening farming systems research and development across biophysical and socio-economic factors. The evidence-based process and methodology for prioritizing these recommendations makes these findings useful for setting out action plans for future investments and strategies. Access to inorganic fertilizer, its use, and related implementation issues were prominent considerations; nevertheless, biophysical and socio-economic barriers and solutions were identified as equally important to building soil fertility and natural resources. Soil management initiatives should focus on providing holistic solutions covering both biophysical and socio-economic aspects along the entire value chain of actors and creating an enabling environment for adoption. A broader view of soil fertility improvement using all available options including both inorganic and organic sources of nutrients and farming system approaches are highly recommended.

Ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology, and phytochemistry of traditional medicinal plants used in the management of symptoms of tuberculosis in East Africa: a systematic review

“…Uganda had the highest number of species mentioned followed by Kenya and then Tanzania (Table 1 ). The differences in species utilization could be attributed to the differences in soil chemistry, rainfall, topography, and climate that results into differences in phytochemical composition of the same species growing in different geographical areas [ 82 ]. Additionally, it could also be due to differences in knowledge and experiences as result of different social and cultural backgrounds that exists across the countries.…”

Improvement of smallholder farming systems in Africa

“…Instead of competition for limited grant funds by separate lead institutions and people, consortium models and networks bring together lead institutions and people to co-design future activities based on participatory prioritization. Such efforts have led to the Sustainable Opportunities to Improve Livelihoods with Soil (SOILS) Consortium which has aligned a research community around regional soil fertility innovations that integrate and build upon past research as opposed to implementing duplicated or "standalone" research (Stewart, Pierzynski, Middendorf, & Prasad, 2020).…”

Water Conservation Methods and Cropping Systems for Increased Productivity and Economic Resilience in Burkina Faso

“…Soil fertility is declining largely due to crop nutrient mining using traditional farming practices and soil erosion [2]. Recent efforts to prioritize methods to improve soil fertility in West Africa have focused on system approaches that integrate inorganic and organic fertilizer approaches as well as socioeconomic considerations [3,4]. The removal of crop residues coupled with low soil-water holding capacity and low rates of fertilizer application significantly reduces the soil nutrient balance.…”

“…Additionally, several improved crop varieties have been released for Sudano-Sahelian farming systems to increase productivity [16]. Soil and water conservation practices are critical to the resilience of these farming systems [3,4,17,18]. Climate change leading to extreme weather events (i.e., both too much and too little rainfall) often reduces the resilience of farmers whose livelihoods depend on these soils.…”