The Terra Preta Model Soil for Sustainable Sedentary Yam Production Systems in West Africa

Terra Preta production from Ghanaian and Zambian soils using domestic wastes

“…There is evidence that TP formation is driven by several factors: (a) It is a long-term process that takes thousands of years to develop compared to the direct application of biochar, which equally yields results similar to TP [2,6,15,28]. Indeed, time drives soil formation, as stated earlier in the proposed formation of TP [29]. (b) Terra Preta can form from different soil types [12,28].…”

“…However, the properties of charcoal (today's biochar) are known to be in uenced by the type of feedstock and pyrolysis temperature [33][34][35][36]. Therefore, it was hypothesized that despite time needed for TP formation, the other factors can be manipulated to have an overriding effect to form the TP Model soil proposed earlier [29].…”