Key principles (with illustrative slides) for improving soil health and rehabilitating degraded soils.
1.Control erosion – It takes between 100-500 years to form one cm of topsoil in nature. We cannot afford to allow our topsoils to be washed away.
2. Religiously recycle all farm residues, both crop and animal residues and waste products.
3. Integrate crop and livestock enterprises to increase synergies and complementarity.
4. Concentrate scarce nutrients.
5, Reduce nutrient losses/leakages on the farm.
6. Reduce plant to plant competition for nutrients: Don’t oversow.
7. Grow leguminous crops for N fixation and to reduce striga infestation.
8. Grow crops that produce lots of residues for recycling on the farm.
9. Grow varieties adapted to soil-based constraints.
10. Target different strategies for different parts of the farm, depending on fertility status.
11. Diversify and rotate to decrease risk of crop failure and to reduce buildup of pests and diseases.