Theme pack
Welcome to our theme pack for the month of September. Healthy soil is key to growing healthy plants; it also helps to reduce plant disease and pests. Healthy soil can be achieved through many practices, including composting, fertilizers, intercropping, crop rotation, using cover crops and mulching, and general minimal tillage.
Soil health is a particularly pressing issue for Africa. Tropical soils have a tendency to rapidly degrade due to human activities. In many places, there is a limited amount of good farmland and there is a high rate of nutrient depletion in soils in many areas. A recent study has shown that soil fertility can have a greater impact on maize harvest than variations in temperature, rain, or CO2. Learn more in this issue pack, which includes key information, farmer stories, radio spots, suggested interview questions, and tips for program design.
Learn more about some of these key practices to improve soil fertility in these resources. Talk to farmers and experts in your area about what soil fertility practices are most common and work best given the soils in your region. Plan to talk about soil fertility at any time, but particularly just before the time for land preparation, so farmers can think about testing their soils and adopting new practices to improve soil health.
Backgrounders & issue packs
4R approach to applying fertilizer
Radio spots
Agroecological agriculture in Tanzania.
Circular and regenerative agriculture.
Interviews
Benefits of intercropping, cover crops, and agroforestry
Compost: A solution to impoverishment of the soil and the impact of overusing chemical fertilizers.
Conservation agriculture: High yields, low production costs, and improved soil fertility.
Plant Gliricidia sepium for soil fertility and fuelwood.
Farmers opt for nature-based solutions to preserve soil and crops
The benefits of conservation agriculture
Addressing the challenges of soil erosion and degradation in Karatu, Tanzania
Barza Wire
Zambia: What soil can tell farmers about what to plant (FAO)
DRC: Women farmers use velvet ban to improve soil fertility and boost yields
Zambia: Farmers use biochar to improve soil fertility
Zambia: Success during drought by turning waste into soil fertility and fuel
Senegal: Homemade organic manure fertilizes soil, boosts income
Uganda: Farmers grow cover crops and grow in previously abandoned fields to adapt to climate change
Burkina Faso: Farmer improves soil fertility with stone lines, zai pits, and half-moons
We hope these resources are useful for creating programming on soil fertility. If you use any of our resources, please tell us how! We would like to share stories from our network about how these scripts, stories, and background information is used – to inspire others. Send us an email at radio@farmradio.org.