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Farmer-Focused tools to improve soil health monitoring on smallholder farms in the Morogoro region of Tanzania

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dc.creator Testen, Anna L
dc.creator Mamiro, Delphina P
dc.creator Nahson, Jackson
dc.creator Amuri, Nyambilila A
dc.creator Culman, Steven W
dc.creator Miller, Sally A
dc.date 2021-03-04T10:27:25Z
dc.date 2021-03-04T10:27:25Z
dc.date 2018-01
dc.date.accessioned 2022-10-25T08:53:02Z
dc.date.available 2022-10-25T08:53:02Z
dc.identifier 2018, Vol. 19, No. 1, 56–63
dc.identifier https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/3398
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/93280
dc.description A participatory approach was used to improve smallholder tomato farmers’ understanding of and access to soil health monitoring in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. Baseline soil characteristics were gathered from 50 tomato fields in the region, local soil knowledge was elicited from farmers and used to de- velop a soil health card to qualitatively assess soil health, and farmers (n = 32) were trained on the use of a low-cost soil test kit to quantitatively assess soil health. Farmers most often described local indicators of soil health in terms of soil texture and tilth, soil color, soil water relations, and soil fertility. Following use of the soil test kit, farmers indicated increased awareness of soil testing services (Wilcoxon signed rank Z = –3.0, P = 0.001), more agreed they had access to soil testing services (Z = –2.7, P = 0.004), and more agreed that soil management recommendations were easy to understand (Z = –3.4, P < 0.0001) compared with pre-exposure results. Farmers continued to use the soil health test kit and soil health card based on a follow-up survey administered 1 year after project completion. Participatory soil health monitoring projects can improve farmers’ ability to monitor and manage soil health, potentially impacting sustained soil and plant health.
dc.description United States Agency for International Development - United States Borlaug Fellows in Global Food Security and iAgri
dc.format application/pdf
dc.language en
dc.publisher The American Phytopathological Society
dc.subject soil health
dc.subject tomato farmers
dc.subject smallholders
dc.subject soil characteristics
dc.subject Morogoro
dc.title Farmer-Focused tools to improve soil health monitoring on smallholder farms in the Morogoro region of Tanzania
dc.type Article


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