Rock Phosphate and Lime for Small-Scale Farming in Tanzania, East Africa
Loading...
Date
2012
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Poor soils are a major cause of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa,
and thus restoration of soil fertility is a significant challenge
for sustainable agriculture. Some of the main resources required,
e.g. phosphate and lime, are present in many African
countries and can be used by smallholder farmers in a
relatively unprocessed form instead of expensive commercial
fertilisers. Here we present a small study of the Mbeya region
in Tanzania, which locally has both phosphate and lime.
Most soils in sub-Saharan Africa are losing nutrients
necessary for sustainable agriculture. This is mainly due
to intensive farming and the fact that the nutrients are not
replaced adequately. Further reasons for nutrient losses are
leaching, soil erosion and fixation by iron and aluminium
oxides. Vast areas experience moderate to acute phosphorus
deficiency (Vanlauwe & Giller 2006).
The Mbeya region in south-western Tanzania (Fig. 1) is
characterised by intensive smallholder plots along with several
local sources of phosphate-bearing rocks and limestone.
The former were examined in the 1980s (Chesworth et al.
1988, 1989), but have never been utilised (Kalvig et al. 2010).
Description
Keywords
Citation
Kalvig, P., Fold, N., Jønsson, J.B. and Mshiu, E.E., 2012. Rock phosphate and lime for small-scale farming in Tanzania, East Africa. Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin, 26, pp.85-88.