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Cluster Based Pre-scaling Up of Soil Test Fertilizer Recommendation Rate for Maize in Selected Districts of Buno Bedele Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia

Received: 22 January 2022     Accepted: 19 February 2022     Published: 9 March 2022
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Abstract

Ethiopia is grappling with overwhelming challenges to produce more food for a fast-growing population due to fragmented land with low soil fertility status owned by poor smallholder farmers who are unlikely to afford adequate input use. Given this, Bedele Agricultural Research Center with the support of AGP-II conducted; cluster based pre scaling up of soil test fertilizer recommendation rate for maize in selected districts of Buno Bedele zone, Southwester Ethiopia with the objectives of popularizing soil test fertilizer recommendation rate for maize through enhancing farmers’ knowledge and skill and strengthening stakeholders’ linkage in the study areas during 2019 cropping season. Bedele and Chora districts were selected purposively for being maize production potential in the zone and the conducted soil test calibration studies in which two clusters having 52 farmers (45 male and 7 female) were established in collaboration with different level agricultural stakeholders for the sustainability of technology transfer. The total land size used for cluster approach was 15 hectare in which the two maize varieties Shone and BH661 were planted with the site specific soil test based fertilizer application. For technology transfer; training and field day consisting 283 stakeholders (253 male and 30 female) were held. In general, the attained yield of Shone variety in Bedele was 7.3 tons ha-1, whereas BH661 in Chora district was 5.2 tons ha-1 that exceeds the attained average national maize yield 3.7 tons ha-1 in 2019 cropping season. Therefore, scaling-up of the soil test fertilizer recommendation rate for maize should be carried out in the study areas and similar maize potential agro-ecological zones with strong stakeholders’ participation.

Published in World Journal of Applied Chemistry (Volume 7, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.wjac.20220701.12
Page(s) 6-11
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Cluster Approach, Pre-scaling up, Soil Test, Fertilizer Recommendation, Maize, Farmers

References
[1] Kassahun, B., 2015. Soil fertility mapping and fertilizer blending. Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (Ethiopian ATA) report, Addis Ababa.
[2] FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations). (2001). Soil fertility management in support of food security in sub-saharan africa. Food and Agriculture Organization of the NnitedNations. Rome, 2001.
[3] Assefa, A., Tadese, T. and Liben, M., 2013. Influence of time of nitrogen application on productivity and nitrogen use efficiency of rain-fed lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.) in the vertisols of Fogera Plain, northwestern Ethiopia. Ethiopian Journal of Science and Technology, 6 (1), pp. 25-31.
[4] Amante AD; Negassa W; Ilfata FG; Negisho K. 2014. Optimum NP fertilizers rate for wheat production on Alfisols of Arjo and Shambu Highlands, Western Ethiopia, 1 (2): 87–95.
[5] Deressa, A., Negassa, W., Getaneh, F. and Negisho, K., 2014. Optimum NP Fertilizers Rate For Wheat Production on Alfisols of Arjo and Shambu Highlands, Western Ethiopia. Journal of Environment and Human, 1 (2), pp. 87-95.
[6] Mitiku, H., Herweg, K., & Stillhardt, B. (2007). Sustainable land management: a new approach to soil and water conservation in Ethiopia. Land Resources Management and Environmental Protection Department of Mekelle University, Ethiopia, and North-South University of Bern, Switzerland.
[7] Mahmud, Y., Alemu, M., Menale, K., & Pender, J. (2005). Cost of land degradation in Ethiopia: A critical review of past studies. Addis Ababa: Environmental Economics Policy Forum for Ethiopia. Retrieved from: www.efdinitiative.org/.../cost-land-degradation-ethiopia-critical-review-p...
[8] Stoorvogel, J., Smaling, E., & Janssen, B. (1993). Calculating soil nutrient balances in Africa at different scales. Fertilizer Research, 35 (3), 227-235.
[9] EATA [Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency] (2013). Status of soil resources in Ethiopia and priorities for sustainable management. GSP for Eastern and Southern Africa, 25-27 March 2013, Nairobi, Kenya.
[10] IFPRI (International Food and Policy Research Institute) (2010). Fertilizer and Soil Fertility Potential in Ethiopia. Constraints and opportunities for enhancing the system.
[11] Berry, L., Olson, J., & Campbell, D. (2003). Assessing the extent, cost and impact of land degradation at the national level: Findings and lessons learned from seven pilot case studies. Report commissioned by Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, with support from the World Bank. Retrieved from: http://global-mechanism.org/edocman/download.php?fname=cost-of-land-degradation-case-studies.pdf.
[12] Evans CE. 1987. “Soil test calibration. Soil testing, sampling, correlation, calibration, and interpretation.” Soil Science Society of America, SSSA special publication no. 21, USA.
[13] McKenizie RH and L Kryzanowski. 1997. “Soil testing methods calibrated to phosphate fertilizer trials.” Better Crops 81: 17-19.
[14] Agegnehu Getachew and Berhane Lakew. 2013. Soil test phosphorous calibration for malt barley production on Nitisols of Ethiopian highlands. Trop. Agric. 90: 177-187.
[15] Smith, R. V., 2003. Industry cluster analysis: Inspiring a common strategy for community development. Central Pennsylvania Workforce Development Corporation Report, 296.
[16] Brasier, K. J., Goetz, S., Smith, L. A., Ames, M., Green, J., Kelsey, T., Rangarajan, A. and Whitmer, W., 2007. Small farm clusters and pathways to rural community sustainability. Community Development, 38 (3), pp. 8-22.
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  • APA Style

    Suleiman Aman Hamera. (2022). Cluster Based Pre-scaling Up of Soil Test Fertilizer Recommendation Rate for Maize in Selected Districts of Buno Bedele Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia. World Journal of Applied Chemistry, 7(1), 6-11. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjac.20220701.12

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    ACS Style

    Suleiman Aman Hamera. Cluster Based Pre-scaling Up of Soil Test Fertilizer Recommendation Rate for Maize in Selected Districts of Buno Bedele Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia. World J. Appl. Chem. 2022, 7(1), 6-11. doi: 10.11648/j.wjac.20220701.12

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    AMA Style

    Suleiman Aman Hamera. Cluster Based Pre-scaling Up of Soil Test Fertilizer Recommendation Rate for Maize in Selected Districts of Buno Bedele Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia. World J Appl Chem. 2022;7(1):6-11. doi: 10.11648/j.wjac.20220701.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.wjac.20220701.12,
      author = {Suleiman Aman Hamera},
      title = {Cluster Based Pre-scaling Up of Soil Test Fertilizer Recommendation Rate for Maize in Selected Districts of Buno Bedele Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia},
      journal = {World Journal of Applied Chemistry},
      volume = {7},
      number = {1},
      pages = {6-11},
      doi = {10.11648/j.wjac.20220701.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjac.20220701.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wjac.20220701.12},
      abstract = {Ethiopia is grappling with overwhelming challenges to produce more food for a fast-growing population due to fragmented land with low soil fertility status owned by poor smallholder farmers who are unlikely to afford adequate input use. Given this, Bedele Agricultural Research Center with the support of AGP-II conducted; cluster based pre scaling up of soil test fertilizer recommendation rate for maize in selected districts of Buno Bedele zone, Southwester Ethiopia with the objectives of popularizing soil test fertilizer recommendation rate for maize through enhancing farmers’ knowledge and skill and strengthening stakeholders’ linkage in the study areas during 2019 cropping season. Bedele and Chora districts were selected purposively for being maize production potential in the zone and the conducted soil test calibration studies in which two clusters having 52 farmers (45 male and 7 female) were established in collaboration with different level agricultural stakeholders for the sustainability of technology transfer. The total land size used for cluster approach was 15 hectare in which the two maize varieties Shone and BH661 were planted with the site specific soil test based fertilizer application. For technology transfer; training and field day consisting 283 stakeholders (253 male and 30 female) were held. In general, the attained yield of Shone variety in Bedele was 7.3 tons ha-1, whereas BH661 in Chora district was 5.2 tons ha-1 that exceeds the attained average national maize yield 3.7 tons ha-1 in 2019 cropping season. Therefore, scaling-up of the soil test fertilizer recommendation rate for maize should be carried out in the study areas and similar maize potential agro-ecological zones with strong stakeholders’ participation.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Cluster Based Pre-scaling Up of Soil Test Fertilizer Recommendation Rate for Maize in Selected Districts of Buno Bedele Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia
    AU  - Suleiman Aman Hamera
    Y1  - 2022/03/09
    PY  - 2022
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjac.20220701.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.wjac.20220701.12
    T2  - World Journal of Applied Chemistry
    JF  - World Journal of Applied Chemistry
    JO  - World Journal of Applied Chemistry
    SP  - 6
    EP  - 11
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2637-5982
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjac.20220701.12
    AB  - Ethiopia is grappling with overwhelming challenges to produce more food for a fast-growing population due to fragmented land with low soil fertility status owned by poor smallholder farmers who are unlikely to afford adequate input use. Given this, Bedele Agricultural Research Center with the support of AGP-II conducted; cluster based pre scaling up of soil test fertilizer recommendation rate for maize in selected districts of Buno Bedele zone, Southwester Ethiopia with the objectives of popularizing soil test fertilizer recommendation rate for maize through enhancing farmers’ knowledge and skill and strengthening stakeholders’ linkage in the study areas during 2019 cropping season. Bedele and Chora districts were selected purposively for being maize production potential in the zone and the conducted soil test calibration studies in which two clusters having 52 farmers (45 male and 7 female) were established in collaboration with different level agricultural stakeholders for the sustainability of technology transfer. The total land size used for cluster approach was 15 hectare in which the two maize varieties Shone and BH661 were planted with the site specific soil test based fertilizer application. For technology transfer; training and field day consisting 283 stakeholders (253 male and 30 female) were held. In general, the attained yield of Shone variety in Bedele was 7.3 tons ha-1, whereas BH661 in Chora district was 5.2 tons ha-1 that exceeds the attained average national maize yield 3.7 tons ha-1 in 2019 cropping season. Therefore, scaling-up of the soil test fertilizer recommendation rate for maize should be carried out in the study areas and similar maize potential agro-ecological zones with strong stakeholders’ participation.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Oromia Agricultural Research Institute (OARI), Bedele Agricultural Research Center (BeARC), Bedele, Ethiphia

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