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Optimizing Nitrogen Management for Improved Productivity, Nitrogen Use Efficiency, and Food and Nutrition Security: African Context Perspectives

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Agriculture, Livestock Production and Aquaculture

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Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experiences a challenge of low soil fertility due to inadequate application of fertilizers. To achieve food sufficiency, it is recommended to adopt improved nutrient management strategies specifically Nitrogen (N) that plays a critical role to crop productivity. Due to its reactive nature, understanding N cycling into the food systems is complicated. In SSA, the problem of N management is two-fold due to too little application of N inputs and high losses to the environment. Therefore, there is a need to understand the key indicators that can be used to monitor and benchmark performance of N into the systems. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and budgeting are two tools that have been recommended to analyze performance of N into the food systems. N budget takes into consideration all N flows into and out of the system and is used to identify sources of surplus either in terms of excess or deficit. On the other hand, NUE presents a conceptualized comparison of output to inputs to depict the ranges of safe operating boundaries for specific crops or at farm levels. From the existing N budgets in SSA, there is a glaringly higher nutrient mining due to large negatives where crop removal exceeds the applied N. For NUE, most of the farmers or cropping systems operate above the safe operating boundaries for N management, implying continuous depletion of soil fertility. Although two tools (NUE and N Budget) present feasible opportunities to N management, there is need for strong policy and institutional linkages to benefit farmers through improved crop productivity and enhance a food secure Africa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Science and Technology, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

    Joseph P. Gweyi-Onyango & Winnie Ntinyari

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  1. Joseph P. Gweyi-Onyango
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Correspondence to Joseph P. Gweyi-Onyango .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, India

    Arvind Kumar

  2. Wildlife Biology, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, India

    Pavan Kumar

  3. Directorate of Extension Education, Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, India

    S. S. Singh

  4. Geospatial Information and Technologies for the Intelligent and Integrative Agriculture, Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, Indonesia

    Bambang Hendro Trisasongko

  5. Department of Geography, Kumaun University, Nainital, India

    Meenu Rani

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Gweyi-Onyango, J.P., Ntinyari, W. (2022). Optimizing Nitrogen Management for Improved Productivity, Nitrogen Use Efficiency, and Food and Nutrition Security: African Context Perspectives. In: Kumar, A., Kumar, P., Singh, S.S., Trisasongko, B.H., Rani, M. (eds) Agriculture, Livestock Production and Aquaculture. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93262-6_4

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