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

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dc.contributor.authorTesten, Anna L
dc.contributor.authorMamiro, Delphina P
dc.contributor.authorNahson, Jackson
dc.contributor.authorAmuri, Nyambilila A
dc.contributor.authorCulman, Steven W
dc.contributor.authorMiller, Sally A
dc.date.accessioned2021-03-04T10:27:25Z
dc.date.available2021-03-04T10:27:25Z
dc.date.issued2018-01
dc.description.abstractA 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.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipUnited States Agency for International Development - United States Borlaug Fellows in Global Food Security and iAgrien_US
dc.identifier.citation2018, Vol. 19, No. 1, 56–63en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/3398
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherThe American Phytopathological Societyen_US
dc.subjectsoil healthen_US
dc.subjecttomato farmersen_US
dc.subjectsmallholdersen_US
dc.subjectsoil characteristicsen_US
dc.subjectMorogoroen_US
dc.titleFarmer-Focused tools to improve soil health monitoring on smallholder farms in the Morogoro region of Tanzaniaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.urlhttps://doi.org/10.1094/PHP-08-17-0044-RSen_US

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