Agricultural stakeholders devise means to tame effects of soil acidity

TANZANIA: AGRICULTURAL stakeholders are working to finalise some key issues in readiness to embark on implementation of a major project meant to tame effects of soil acidity towards the crops production sector in the country.

At least 32.7 million hectares of land in Tanzania are acidic, being about 14.6 million hectares which are currently under cultivation, the situation which is thwarting the needed metamorphosis in the country’s crops production and productivity.

Opening the meeting, Director for Crops Development at the Ministry of Agriculture, Nyasebwa Chimagu said that increasing crops production and productivity was among the currently priorities by the parent ministry.

He said to attain the vision, knowledge on soil health management among the local farmers was of paramount importance.

He said the government is striving to push the sector’s annual growth to the tune of 10 per cent by 2030, and thus, limiting effects of soil acidity is vital to enable the sector to grow to that effect was key.

Mr Chimagu urged members of the meeting to ponder over the proper approach to which, the project will apply to have the farmers under soil acidity adopting proper use of ag-limes.

“Majority of the farmers are not aware of the use of agriculture lime as they have for years been sensitized to only use fertiliser, so the project must come-up with a useful and simple approach to empower them,” he suggested.

He added, the project must sensitize the lime producing factories to expand production so as to ensure for availability, accessibility and affordability of agricultural limes towards the intended farmers in the needed areas.

On his part, the Director General (DG) of the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), Dr Thomas Bwana said that acidic soils was standing tall among the major factor that is diluting efforts by the country’s agriculture system to attain the needed crops production and productivity.

He added, the so far conducted trials by TARI in Mbozi and Geita have proved that use of agriculture limes can help to double maize yields in acidic soil areas.

“Currently, we’re continuing carrying out more research to determine all areas of the country where farmers must use agricultural limes, as well as the actual extent that the farmers are supposed to use limes to get good results in their plantations,” he unveiled.

Together with that, the director added that throughout the project the stateowned agro-research institute will introduce to the farmers key knowledge to help solve the various challenges that deny the farmers to yield bumper.

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Among the tall effects of soil acidity to crop production include a sharp decrease availability of essential nutrients to crops, increased concentration of toxic elements (Aluminium) in soils thus damaging crop roots, decrease crop production, and affect essential soil biological functions like nitrogen fixation, to mention but a few.

The envisaged robust initiative to be executed through the Guiding Acid Soil Management Investments in Africa (GAIA) project focuses on impart the farmers who are cultivating in soil acidity zones with agronomic knowledge on how to use agriculture limes to help treat the soil.

The research-based project is being executed jointly in the country by several agricultural institutions, led by the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), and it is further targeted to address key knowledge gaps related to soil health management and improved agronomy among the farmers.

As part of the project’s pilot leg, special study trials were conducted among the farmers in Geita and Mbozi districts, focusing on the use of agricultural limes to help treat the acidic soil.

And during a series of potential 43 trials that were conducted in each of the two picked districts, maize and beans were the tested crops, and the treatments included control received the same number of fertilizers, but applied with different rates of agriculture lime.

TARI organised a special agro-technical meeting which attracted high-profile agricultural researchers from diverse institutions from within and outside the country that are part and parcel of the project to deliberate and set a crucial road map to use the findings from the project’s trials studies to venture onto implementation of the helpful initiative across all areas with acidic soils in the country.

The institutions include the Southern Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), Alliance for Green Revolution in Agriculture (AGRA), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Center for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI), Rwanda.

Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB), Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), to mention but a few.