spezialiced soil management
TRANSCRIPT
Food security
There will be 9 billion people by 2050
- We must develop new technologies and techniques to produce more feed, fiber, food and fuel
- With less land, less water, less energy, and fewer nutrient inputs
- Achieving this will require improved crops and ….
novel soil management strategies
The importance of soil
- Soil is a fundamental resource for life providing the basis for food and biomass production
- Soil filters our water and helps regulate many of the important greenhouse gases
- Soil is a non-renewable resource, which generated within hundreds or even thousands of years
Conclusion: Soil is one of the most valuable natural resource on earth
Project objectives
- Testing the general soil condition and nutrient content of soils of small-scale farmers in East-Africa,
by using in-situ testing with soil-testing kits and remote sensing methods
- Creating a Soil-Database with the obtained information
- Providing access for the small-scale farmers to appropriate fertilizers (“fingerprint”fertilizer) and thus improving the efficiency of nutrient cycling in the soil and increasing the crop yield at the same time
Project : Step 1
- Form a network of local experts: including university members and employees of syngenta as well as representatives of local farmers
- Gain the confidence of the local small-scale farmers
- Give free advice on tillage, fertilizer and cultivation
- Database and equipment (small lab) is set on an offroad-vehicle which drives from settlement to settlement
Project : Step 2
- Sell seed and fertilizers that specifically match to the soil properties
- Prices are adapted to the proceed of the crop sale
- Establish a person who controls crop yield and sale (preferably women)
Positive aspects
- Improving quality and quantity of crop
- Improving soil properties
- Improving quality of water in the course of fertilizer reduction in a region where no/few water treatment plants are present
- The database is advantageous for producers of agricultural products
- Women are included in the project