Investigating Soil Types, Crops and Use of Inorganic and Organic Fertilizer in Mixed Farming System of Ethiopia: A Baseline Survey

Abstract

Due to high mineral fertilizer prices, use of available alternative organic fertilizers has
got focuses now-a-days. Objectives of the current work were to investigate major soil
types and means of soil fertility analysis by farmers, inventory crops grown, usage of
improved seeds and yields of major crops, and reveal usage of inorganic and organic
fertilizers in selected districts of East Shewa and West Shewa zones of Oromia regional
states of Ethiopia. The study districts of the zones represented mid altitude and highland
agro-ecologies of the country. The dominant soil type in East Shewa zone was Vertisols while
that of West Shewa was Nitisols. In both zones, observations of soil texture and crops growth
performance were used to judge soil fertility by farmers. Teff, barely, wheat and faba bean were
the major crops grown where the productivity was the lowest for Teff (951 kg ha-1) and the
highest (2337 kg ha-1) for wheat. Chemical fertilizer usage was lower for faba bean
compared to the cereals. Usage of sewage, bio-slurry, green manure, cover crops and
mulching were not common. About 62% of respondents reported that livestock manure
was not sufficient to fertilize own crop fields still could be used in combination with
chemical fertilizers. Future research should focus on characterizing crop productivity
under different levels of agricultural inputs under farmers’ management.