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Traditional forms of soil fertility maintenance

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Title Traditional forms of soil fertility maintenance
 
Creator Edje, O.T.
Semoka, JMR
Haule, KL
 
Subject phaseolus vulgaris
soil fertility
land use
cultivation systems
shifting cultivation
agroforestry
cultivation
soil requirements
fertilidad del suelo
uso de la tierra
sistemas de cultivo
cultivo migratorio
agrosilvicultura
 
Description Several traditional methods of maintaining soil fertility in bean-based cropping systems are reviewed as follows: visoso, large- scale chitemene, ngoro or matengo pit (Mbinga District, Tanzania), mambwe land-use system of northern Zambia (fundikila), mounds of the Wafipas (SW Tanzania), tumba land-use system (southern Tanzania), guie (central highlands of Ethiopia), mafuku in Zaire, termite mounds, agroforestry, relay intercropping systems, coffee- banana-bean cropping system of the Wahayas of Bukoba (Tanzania), removal of maize tassels (northern Malawi), and storage of nutrients in weeds (Arusha, Tanzania). It is evident from the review that, traditionally, farmers producing beans and other crops depended on standing trees and bush vegetation for providing nutrients for the restoration of soil fertility and productivity. In addition to providing nutrients through ash and burning, the vegetation also provided cover for the fragile tropical soils. The oldest form was shifting cultivation (visoso) and its variant chitemene. Although fallowing restored the nutrients almost effortlessly and cost-free, these systems were inefficient, destructive, and had low human carrying capacity. With a reduction in the fallow period, the mambwe or mound cultivation system evolved whereby green manure was composted. Then the era of cheap inorganic fertilizer discouraged the dependence on regenerative agriculture; however, the oil crisis in the mid-1970s and the high attendant cost of agro-chemicals shifted emphasis to agroforestry, an alternative to shifting cultivation, which may be adapted to present day circumstances. (CIAT)
 
Date 1988
2015-01-28T14:22:02Z
2015-01-28T14:22:02Z
 
Type Conference Paper
 
Identifier EDJE, O.T.; SEMOKA, J.M.R.; Haule, K.L. 1988. Traditional forms of soil fertility maintenance. In: Wortmann, C. (ed.). Workshop on Soil Fertility Research for Bean Cropping Systems in Africa (1988, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia). Proceedings. Southern Africa Development Coordination Conference (SADCC); Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), Regional Programme on Beans in Southern Africa, Debre Zeit, ET. p. 7-29. (CIAT African workshop series no. 3)
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/55961
http://ciat-library.ciat.cgiar.org/Articulos_Ciat/Digital/38601-38615_Proceedings_of_a_workshop_on_soil_fertility_research_for_bean_cropping_systems_in_afri.pdf#page=12
 
Language en
 
Rights Open Access
 
Publisher Southern Africa Development Coordination Conference (SADCC); Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), Regional Programme on Beans in Southern Africa