ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF SOIL FERTILITY AND CONSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES OF FARM LANDS IN YENDI MUNICIPALITY, GHANA

Abstract

Soil and water degradation is a source of problem confronting sub-Saharan Africa with regard to improving agricultural productivity, reducing poverty and securing food insecurity. Unfortunately, many Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) programmes design to address soil and water degradation in the traditional agricultural sector have fallen far short of expectation. This study therefore assessed the effects of soil fertility and conservation technologies on farmlands in Yendi Municipality. Simple random sampling was used to select fifty (50) respondents each from Kulkpanga, Kpatia and Gundogu for face-to-face interview. Other data collection tools included observation of farms and focus groups discussions. Descriptive statistics and frequency distributions were used to present the results in the form of tables or graphs. The SWC practices adopted by farmers in the study communities included: contour ploughing, earth bunding, non-burning of farmlands, cover cropping, mixed cropping and crop rotation. The benefits of these include improvement of soil fertility and soil erosion control. However, capital and labour availability were a constraint. It is therefore recommended that farmers' capacities are enhanced to improve and sustain existing technologies being used. Further research should be carried out in those study communities to determine the physical, chemical and microbiological properties of the soils for enhanced crop productivity.