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Organic material flows within a smallholder highland farming system of South West Uganda

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/1470/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8809(01)00164-5
 
Title Organic material flows within a smallholder highland farming system of South West Uganda
 
Creator Briggs, L
Twomlow, S J
 
Subject Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
 
Description It is now recognised that nutrient losses from the steeply sloping hillsides of the tropics and subtropics occur not only through soil erosion, but through the net transfer of annual crop residues to more profitable parts of the farming system. Studies of soil nutrient balances across Africa are showing evidence of widespread mining of the soil resource within the smallholder farming sector, as the organic matter and nutrient source is not replenished in annually cropped hillside fields. This paper presents information that is central to the understanding of the farming systems employed by smallholder farmers within the highlands of South West Uganda. A time static model of organic resource flows was developed with a smallholder farming community, using visible flow data from farm surveys and semi-structured interviews, to describe this situation. The model explores the sources, whereabouts and current management strategies of organic resources and defines their flow around the farming system. Results confirm a net transfer of 24 Mg ha-1 yr-1 (P
 
Publisher Elsevier
 
Date 2002
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/1470/1/AgricEcosEnviron89_3_191-212_2002.pdf
Briggs, L and Twomlow, S J (2002) Organic material flows within a smallholder highland farming system of South West Uganda. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 89 (3). pp. 191-212.