Uganda's soil fertility lowering – research

By John Kasozi

TWO percent of Uganda�s smallholder farmers use inorganic fertilizers, a soil scientist with the Kawanda National Agricultural Research Laboratory soils Fertility Management Unit has said.

Dr. Cranimer Kayuki Kaizzi said Uganda�s soil fertility is going down without adding fertilizers.

�Ugandan farmers continue to remove nutrients from the garden everyday through sweet potato vines, banana leaves and suckers when they are being delivered to the market,� Kaizzi said.

He added that soil fertility is also lost through soil erosion. Uganda�s soil fertility is found within the top 20cm layer that is prone to erosion.

Addressing stakeholders at Kawanda during the one-day annual review and planning workshop yesterday, Kaizzi said this had resulted into continued low crop yields yet the population was increasing.

�The yields are only increasing by expanding farming activities to wetlands and forests reserves. The wetlands continue to be utilised because they receive fertile (alluvial) soils from up hill. A good example is Doho Rice Irrigation Scheme that receives nutrients from Mountain Elgon,� he explained.

Kaizzi added that the average inorganic fertilizers added by a Ugandan farmer are less than one kilogramme (230gms) per hectare each year.

He said the Abuja Declaration 2006, which the Government ratified, targeted 50kg per hectare each year.

�The soils are gone. We are recycling poverty. Ugandans should have started applying fertilizers yesterday not today. Soils are like a bank account. They need fertilizer deposits to be re-energised,� Kaizzi said.

Farmers in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa on average apply 200-400kgs per hectare, per year respectively, while those in Kenya use 23kg.

�The fertilizer application carried out in 2009/2011 by farmers in Tororo, Kapchorwa, Dokolo, Lira, Apac, Kumi, Kawanda, Iganga, Arua, Bulindi and Hoima districts has shown that beans, soya bean and groundnuts can increase production when fertilizers are applied,� said Kaizzi.

Some of these crops were planted with and without applying fertilizers on one-hectare after applying 15kg of inorganic fertilizer phosphates.

The beans planted with and without fertilizers yielded 1,350kg and 850kg, an increase of 500kg, soya bean 1,670kg and 750kg and groundnuts 1,310kg and 600kg correspondingly.

Varieties of Fertilizers | W Chemicals Online

Fertilizers are chemical compounds with complicated structure that are employed to supply important nutrients to the plants. Therefore they promote growth of plants and boost production of crops, fruits or flowers. Fundamentally, you will find two varieties of fertilizers namely organic fertilizers and inorganic fertilizers. As the name suggests, organic fertilizers are those which consist of natural components. Some typical examples of organic fertilizer are: green manure, cow manure, compost, peat moss and so on. The nutrient content material with the organic fertilizers are quite low and they are able to bring about improvement within the overall quality with the soil but can not meet certain demands of diverse plants. Inorganic fertilizers however are chemical based fertilizers and are specifically formulated to meet numerous requirements with the plants. 1 can gather a lot of data by going via chemical fertilizer vs organic fertilizer.

Different Varieties of Fertilizers and Their Uses

The 3 main fertilizer ingredients are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Together, they’re frequently referred to as NPK fertilizers. Based on percentage of these nutritional components, fertilizers are broadly categorized into nitrogen based fertilizer, phosphorous based fertilizers and potassium based fertilizers. These fertilizers are combined in numerous ratios and are utilised to suit the wants of a variety of stages in plant growth procedure. The characteristics and utilizes of distinct fertilizer kinds are given below.

Nitrogenous Fertilizers A nitrogen rich fertilizer is necessary in the time of sowing. It improves growth of stems and leaves with the plants. When an inorganic fertilizer like urea is applied to the soil, then it right away breaks down into ammonia which is highly soluble in water. Then it really is absorbed into the roots rather easily. Sodium nitrate is yet another inorganic fertilizer which makes nitrogen easily obtainable to the plants. It truly is much more appropriate for a soil which is acidic in nature. Amongst the organic fertilizers blood meal, oil cakes and fish manure are good sources of nitrogen. Usable type of nitrogen is obtained from them following bacterial activity breaks down the organic components in them. So, it can’t be an instant source of nitrogen. For that reason, whenever you might be employing this fertilizer, you should combine it with some inorganic nitrogen fertilizers.

Phosphate Fertilizers The organic source of fertilizer is bone meal. It may be applied in raw form or soon after steaming. Raw type of bone meal contains some nitrogen together with phosphorus but in steamed bone meal, nitrogen is absent. The bone meal ought to be powdered just before application to facilitate easier absorption into the soil. Superphosphate is an inorganic fertilizer that contains synthetic type of phosphoric acid. This acidic component gets converted into a water soluble type of phosphate and is absorbed into the soil quickly. It really is located in three various grades: single, double and triple. The grades are based on the concentration of phosphoric acid in it to meet the requirement of distinct varieties of soils. Phosphorus fertilizer ought to be applied in the time of planting or transplantation. An organic phosphorus fertilizer like bone meal really should be ideally applied several days just before sowing for very best outcomes. Phosphorus fertilizers make the roots with the plants wholesome and boost the production of fruits and flowers.

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