Soil fertility radio spots

Soil health
 

Soil is essential for life on earth. It is the foundation for food production. Soil filters water, stores massive amounts of carbon, and is home to an abundance of biodiversity. So farmers, protect your soil’s health. Improve your soil’s health.

A good sign of healthy soil is that organisms are crawling around in it: earthworms, termites. And that fungi and bacteria are living in your soil.

Find out if your soil is healthy and fertile. Take a look at your soil. Can you see organisms in it?

Use a soil testing kit or soil scanner for a precise analysis. Or grab a handful of soil for a simple analysis. Dos it look like chocolate cake? Squeeze your handful of soil. Good soil will hold together lightly but break apart easily. If it forms a hard lump or falls apart like dust, it might need more organic matter.

If your soil needs a boost, try composted manure, using mulch, and reducing tillage.

Remember: when you care for your soil, your soil cares for you. Protect your soil today for stronger harvests tomorrow.

Soil health
 

Soil is like a bank, and growing crops withdraws nutrients from the bank. Soil can become depleted of essential nutrients from continuous cropping, too much tilling, burning, and overusing chemical fertilizers and herbicides. And depleted soil cannot grow anything.

grow anything.

Invest in your soil by building back organic matter so it can hold more water and continue growing food. Use mulch, green manure, and grow leguminous crops to increase nitrogen and other nutrients in your soil. Apply organic manure or compost to return nutrients to the soil.

Remember, your organic waste is not just waste. You can turn it into wealth,improve your soil health, and grow stronger harvests.

Healthy soil
 

Soil is the foundation for food production. Healthy soil will grow good food to keep you and your family healthy. But do you know the recipe for healthy soil? Soil should be rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It also should also have a little bit of other nutrients needed for plants, like boron, cobalt, copper, iron, and others. It also needs good levels of organic matter.

A good sign of healthy soil is that living organisms are found in it: earthworms, termites, fungi, and bacteria. These tiny helpers support healthy soil and plant growth.

What can you do to ensure these nutrients and organisms are in your soil? Composted manure, built from decomposing leaves, food scraps, crop residues, and animal dung, which contain all those essential nutrients for soil.

Don’t burn your organic waste. Build a compost pit, feed your soil, and help your crops grow stronger.

Fertilizer trees
 

Eight great reasons to plant trees on your farm: they provide shade and fruits, they reduce soil compaction and erosion, they improve soil structure, and help the soil retain moisture. That’s five.

But some special trees provide additional benefits by fixing nitrogen as they grow or as they decompose. Fertilizer trees have leaves that are great for mulching and compost, and decompose quickly. That’s one more reason to plant trees on your farm.

Consider Calliandra, Leucaena, Gliricidia, Faidherbia albida, and Grevillea robusta, varieties that fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, which plants can use.

You can also plant several of these species as windbreaks to stop soil moisture from evaporating. This includes Gliricidia, Grevillea, Ziziphus, and Cassia. These can also provide fodder for livestock. And that makes eight great reasons to plant trees, especially fertilizer trees, on your farm.

More information: https://scripts.farmradio.fm/radio-script/backgrounder-fires-deliberately-set-agriculture-impacts-alternatives/

Soil structure
 

My oh my, it has been dry. The rains should have already started! This is not good for our planting season. Just look at this dry soil.

And when it rains, it will pour. Heavy rain. I fear the water will just run off the field, when it should be soaking into the soil.

This is why we need to improve the soil. If we can improve the soil structure, more rain and soak into the soil, and less water will be lost to runoff.

Ah, and how can we do that?

Using mulch and cover crops will help to keep water from evaporating off the soil. Covering the soil with crop residues after harvest, and planting cover crops just after the main crop.

Also, no-till or conservation agriculture. By disturbing the soil as little as possible, only where seeds will be planted. We use a hoe and dig in a planting basin, but you can also use a ripper pulled by an ox.

It’s something to try, because the same old practices are just depleting our soil.

Breaking the hardpan with a hoe or ripper allows rainwater to move deeper into the soil instead of running off. Crops can then extend their roots beyond the hardpan, reach moisture deeper in the ground, and better survive normal dry spells.

Minimum tillage can improve soil structure and soil fertility over a number of years. It can also increase the level of moisture in the ground.

More information: https://scripts.farmradio.fm/radio-script/backgrounder-conservation-agriculture/

Soil texture
 

Hi, neighbour! I see you are preparing a new field! What are you planting?

Hello, neighbour! I hope to plant maize, but I am doing a soil test first to ensure I have the right soil structure. If it’s too sandy, I might instead plant cassava or sorghum, or I will add lots of organic matter through composted manure.

A soil test? How do you do that?

Well, I had hoped to purchase one, but while I wait for it to arrive, I am doing the hand ribbon test. I dug up a small handful of soil, removing any rocks, roots, or sticks. Then I slowly mix in a few drops of water to form a muddy ball here in my hand. I squeeze the ball gently between my thumb and forefinger. I let a thin, flat ribbon of mud fall over my finger, see.

I see. What does that tell you?

I let the ribbon grow until it breaks under its own weight. If the ribbon is crumbly and short, I have high sand content, which means water and nutrients drain out quickly.

This looks like a short ribbon of about 1 inch, which means loamy or silty soil, which is a good mix of air, water, and food for growing plants. That is what I wanted.

If it was a long ribbon of more than 2 inches, that would mean high clay content, which is sticky when wet and prone to packing down hard.

Well, I am glad you and I both learned something today. I may try this on my farm.

Farmers, consider a soil test. This information can help you prepare your soil properly. If you have sandy soil, you can add composted manure and use half-moons and zai pits to hold rainwater.

Land preparation
 

Farmers, do you consider your soil when you are preparing your land?

If your field is sloped and hilly, plough across the slope or along the contour, creating steps in the slope. This will reduce erosion during heavy rains. Running water will gather less speed and wash away less soil. You can also build bunds from soil or stones to slow water runoff.

If your soil is easily compacted, avoid heavy machinery like tractors. This will make the soil more compacted, which doesn’t allow rainwater to be absorbed. Incorporate organic matter to break apart compacted soil.

For light soils, use conservation agriculture practices such as minimum or no tillage instead of ploughing. This is because light soils can easily be washed away after ploughing. Adding organic matter can also help improve light soils

And do not build bunds at land preparation unless your soil is more than 7.5 centimetres deep. Bunds are also not successful in deep, black soils, because they drain poorly and make the bund unstable.

When land is poorly prepared, farmers may sow unevenly, resulting in low density plantings and low yields. So, understand your soil type and prepare your land carefully for better harvests.

Mulch
 

Do you know all the benefits of mulch? Here are three:

One: Mulch feeds the soil as it decomposes. It feeds earthworms and other living organisms, which help to break up the soil as they move through it.

Two: Mulch limits the growth of weeds by giving them no space to grow. And any weeds that do break through – like quack grass, bindweed, or dock – will be easier to pull out.

Three: Mulch covers the soil, reducing evaporation and trapping more moisture in the soil.

Give mulch a try. Use crop residues and prunings from trees and shrubs to cover your soil. Even better, use plants rich in nitrogen, like Calliandra, Leucaena, Gliricidia, Grevillea robusta, and Cassia.

Avoid mulching with striga, couch grass, or weeds that have flowered, as they can interfere with the growth of your crops.

More information on sources of mulch: https://scripts.farmradio.fm/radio-script/backgrounder-using-permanent-soil-cover-conservation-agriculture/

Bokashi compost
 

Do you know how to make bokashi? This is a rich compost to improve your soil, using fermented bran from wheat, rice, or maize.

First, gather the materials: 5 kilograms of charcoal dust. 5 kilograms of ash. 10 litres of molasses and 1 kilogram of yeast. 100 litres of water and 50 kilograms of wheat, rice, or maize bran. 150 kilograms of animal waste – about 3 wheelbarrows. And three wheelbarrows of top soil or forest soil. 5 kilograms of rock dust. And 300 kilograms of dry matter like straw. Make sure you have a 1 centimetre sieve.

Step 2: Mix 1 litre of molasses with 100 grams of yeast and 10 litres of water. Stir. Separately, mix the 5 kilograms of charcoal dust with 5 kilograms of ash.

Now it’s time to layer up. Start with a layer of animal waste, then add a little of the molasses and yeast mixture. Add this mixture between every layer. Next, add a layer of straw or other dry matter, followed by more of the molasses mixture. Then add topsoil, the charcoal dust and ash mixture, rock dust, and wheat or bran, adding the molasses mixture between each layer. Keep building your layers until all materials are added.

Turn the mixture twice a day to mix everything up. Spread it out and lower the height of the pile as you mix. The mixture will naturally heat up, so mixing and spreading will help it cool down. It is best if you have prepared the compost under a shed.

After one month, the bokashi compost will be cool and ready. Spread it to dry under shade. Once dry, sieve it, pack it, and store it in a cool, dry place until you use it as a planting or top-dressing fertilizer.

More information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFDPFSo3AjQ

Composted manure
 

Banana peels, maize stalks, leaves, cow dung. Are they garbage to be burned and disposed of? Or do you think of the extra benefits these crop residues can bring to your farm?

With a bit of time, this organic waste can decompose into composted manure that will enrich your soil. Don’t waste good potential. Turn your crop and animal waste into wealth.

First, gather both dry and green leaves, crop stalks, ashes, soil, water, and a long stick. Second, cut the dry leaves into small pieces.

Third, dig a hole 1.5 metres long, 1.5 metres wide, and 25- 50 centimetres deep. Alternatively, you could build a compost pile above ground and use tree poles or wire mesh to shape the pile and cover it with a black polythene sheet. Don’t cover the pile too tightly, just keep it shaded.

Fourth, place crop stalks that are 15-25 centimetres thick at the bottom of the hole and sprinkle water on them.

Then, add a layer of dry leaves and another layer of green leaves.

Then, spread ashes on top of the leaves.

Step seven, add a layer of soil, about five or ten kilograms in weight. Make sure you spray a little water on top of each layer.

Repeat adding layers in the same way until the heap is one and a half metres high, then leave the heap to decompose.

After two days, check the temperature of the heap by inserting a long stick into the middle. If the stick is still warm, the composting is going well. If it isn’t warm, sprinkle on more water.

Your compost is ready to use in three to seven weeks, when the materials have broken down. You can then mix it into your top soil, planting pits, or spread at the base of plants.

More information: https://scripts.farmradio.fm/radio-script/backgrounder-organic-fertilizers/

Alternatives to agricultural fires
 

Hello, neighbour. Almost time to burn these crop residues, eh.

Oh no, we are not burning our fields anymore. Didn’t you hear? It’s bad for the soil. It removes the organic carbon from the soil and kills the micro- and macro-organisms in the soil. The soil needs these to be fertile enough to grow crops.

But I thought burning the soil added ash that was good for fertility.

Ah, but just in the short term. The ash is only available until it blows away from the wind or is washed away by the rain. And it takes much longer to rebuild the organic matter and organisms in the soil. So we are adding compost and mulch instead to protect our soil and rebuild the fertility.

Plus, when you burn your field, you are at greater risk of losing soil to erosion if it rains.
We are also planting Gliricidia, which will fix nitrogen into the soil, shade our crops, and help keep soil from eroding.

There are good alternatives to burning your soil, including fertilizer trees, planting legumes as a cover crop, covering the soil with mulch, crop rotation, and making compost. These will improve soil fertility and reduce weeds.

Healthy soil will also reduce the impact of pests and plant diseases. Try these alternatives to burning your fields.

More information: https://scripts.farmradio.fm/radio-script/backgrounder-fires-deliberately-set-agriculture-impacts-alternatives/

No burning
 

Farmers! See those maize stalks in your field? Keep them and other crop residues, they can help you build better soil fertility.

Burning crop residues provides just a short-term benefit, just one season. Lots of good nutrients, like nitrogen and sulphur, are released into the air when fields are burned. And burning leaves the soil vulnerable to water and wind erosion, which carries away the ash and any potential benefits for the crop.

Instead, incorporate the crop residues into the soil. Apply mulch and green manure, which bread down and add nutrients into the soil. Yes, it may require more work, especially when managing pests, plant diseases, and weeds. But the long-term benefits are worth it. Healthy soil today means stronger crops in the future.