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The prospects for integrated nutrient management for sustainable rainfed lowland rice production in Sukumaland, Tanzania

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Abstract

The possibilities of integrated nutrient management for sustainable ricecultivation are investigated for rainfed, lowland rice in Sukumaland,northwestern Tanzania. Typical, hardpan rice soils in Sukumaland have ratherlowlevels of organic matter, total nitrogen and available phosphorus, and a low tomedium amount of exchangeable potassium. Consumption of mineral fertilizers inrice is, however, very low due to availability problems and sharply increasedprices of fertilizers. Use of locally available resources for soil fertilityimprovement is hampered by the additional inputs of farm household labourinvolved. High labour inputs per hectare without increases in capital inputslead to lower marginal and average products per hour of labour. Furthermore, insemi-arid Sukumaland biomass production of green manures is seriouslyrestrictedby climate. The amount of kraal cattle manure is insufficient and half thehouseholds have no easy access to it. Using rice straw as cattle feed andthatching material has priority over soil fertility improvement. Some farmersindicate that at present there is not yet an urgent need for improvedintegratednutrient management in Sukumaland rice cultivation. Adoption of integratednutrient management based technologies depends on conducive socio-economic,agro-ecological and public policy circumstances. Farmer investment in learningand a favourable policy environment are thus no guarantee for worldwideadoptionof these technologies by farm households.

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  1. International Fertilizer Development Center-Africa, Lomé, Togo

    H.C.C. Meertens

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Meertens, H. The prospects for integrated nutrient management for sustainable rainfed lowland rice production in Sukumaland, Tanzania. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 65, 163–171 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022103913683

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