Integrated Management of Soil Fertility and Land Resources in Sub-Saharan Africa: Involving Local Communities

Abstract

The soils of sub-Saharan Africa are characterized by their poverty in nutrients along with low clay and organic carbon content and low exchange capacity. There is high pressure on land resources with the quick growth of population and demand for food. Maintaining the fertility of cultivated soils and land resources is a challenge. Since the paradigm of "external input" in the 1960s and 1970s, to the latest concept of integrated soil fertility management, most of the approaches remain crop oriented or livestock oriented with less attention to local communities (LC), which are at the heart of land resource management. This chapter suggests a new integrated and holistic approach involving LC for land resources management, including cultivated soils and rangelands. A global framework is proposed for development of management options of land resources with LC. It is a dynamic process of participative management of lands as providers of services for the entire community.

Comparing farmers' qualitative evaluation of soil fertility with quantitative soil fertility indicators in Kitui County, Kenya

“…Farmers observe and evaluate their local soil experience for making everyday land management decisions (Rushemuka et al, 2014;Bado and Bationo, 2018). Integrating local knowledge helps match extension workers efforts with local needs, and may achieve improved adoption of co-produced technology (Ingram et al, 2018).…”

Productivity of Cotton as Affected by Tillage Practices, Fertilizer Rates and Intercropping Systems in the Guinea Savannah Agroecology, Ghana

“…Crop production enhancement and increase in global food security relies on sustainable farming practices which improve and conserve the soil, nutrients and water resources. Most importantly, resource-poor farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are concurrently faced with crop yield decline due to inappropriate soil management practices [1,2]. This problem still persists because most farmers in this agro-ecological zone apply varied fertilizer rates and resort continuously to monoculture system of farming year after year.…”

Les contraintes entomologiques de la culture du niébé et leur mode de gestion par les producteurs dans les régions de Maradi et Zinder au Niger

“…La pauvreté des sols est une contrainte considérée comme généralisée en raison de la surexploitation des terres. Des options pour la conservation du sol utilisant diverses techniques de lutte contre l'érosion et aussi des apports de la fumure organique sont développées (Kpadonou et al, 2017 ;Suzuki, 2017 ;Bado et Bationo, 2018).…”