Management of Manure in Farming Systems in Semi-Arid West Africa

Abstract

The last 50 years have seen a rapid expansion of cultivated area in semi-arid areas of West Africa. This has precipitated a change from traditional fallowing to more pro-active soil fertility management techniques. Smallholder farmers employ a range of technologies to enhance soil fertility and manure is a cornerstone of many of the soil fertility management strategies they use. This paper reviews manure management by smallholder farmers. It considers factors that affect the quality of the manure used, including methods for keeping livestock and storing manure. The paper reviews the strategies, such as night parking and crop-livestock integration, which farmers employ to ensure that manure reaches their ®elds. The nutrient balances of two farming systems are presented as evidence for the importance of manure as a nutrient source. Rangeland-to-cropland nutrient transfers are contrasted with nutrient recycling through croplivestock integration. The paper concludes that within the constraints in which smallholder farmers operate in semi-arid West Africa, manure will remain an important component of soil fertility management strategies for the foreseeable future. Integrated nutrient management strategies that take into consideration the circumstances of farmers, and the resources available to them, are the best way forward. Appropriate interventions need to focus on improving manure management to ensure that the material which farmers so laboriously prepare and transport is of the best possible quality.

Crop-Livestock Farming Systems Varying with Different Altitudes in Southern Ethiopia

“…Livestock convert vegetative plant material and residues to dung, as manure a valuable resource to maintain fertility of pasture and especially of cropland (Harris, 2002). However, the use as fertilizer often competes with the use of dung as fuel for fire as the availability of firewood is often limited (Lupwayi et al, 2000).…”

“…Cattle dung was used by all households as manure or as a fuel, which affects the nutrient cycling in crop-livestock systems accordingly (Harris, 2002;Lekasi et al, 2003). A higher proportion being used as fuel in the midland and highland regions BW and DD.…”

How to Make a Barranco: Modeling Erosion and Land-Use in Mediterranean Landscapes

“…Grazing reduces land-cover by the amount determined by the grazing intensity map discussed in the previous paragraph. Grazing also affects soil fertility in that manure from grazing animals is added to the soil at a rate commensurate to the intensity of grazing on that patch [65].…”

Cattle manure increases soil weed population and species diversity in a semi-arid environment

“…In South Africa, the use of animal manure as a source of plant nutrients is a well-established practice especially among the small-scale farming sector (Mkhabela & Materechera, 2003). As is the case elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa (Harris, 2002), animal manure is particularly important in semi-arid areas of South Africa because the dry environment and extensive land resource for grazing allows people to keep large numbers of livestock. Experience and results of a preliminary survey of 150 households in 10 villages around Mafikeng in the North West province in 2002 revealed that large amounts of manure are available for use by the small scale farming households (S.A. Materechera, 2002, North-West University, unpublished data).…”

“…However, there are other characteristics of manure, such as colour, presence of moulds, moisture content, homogeneity, texture and soil within the manure, which are traditionally used by farmers to define quality (Lekasi et al, 1998). The nutrient content of manure obtained in kraals from small-scale farmer's households is affected by many factors including the quality of feed, storage and handling conditions in the kraal, ambient temperature and moisture levels, length of exposure to the environment and other management factors Lupwayi, Girma & Haque, 2000;Harris, 2002).…”