Description

MICRODOSING A pinch of fertilizer improves dryland farmers’ livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: A technique using small amounts of fertilizer, pioneered by African agricultural scientists, boosts crop yields in the nutrient degraded soils of sub- Saharan Africa. More than 500,000 farm families in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Zimbabwe have significantly improved yields of sorghum, millet and maize by adding just a ''three-finger pinch'' (six grams) of fertiliser NPK or DAP when planting seeds or within three weeks of sowing. Combination of mineral fertilizer microdose with handful of organic manure applied in planting pit before the first rains allows for better utilization of the applied mineral and better plant growth. Microdosing has reintroduced fertilizer use in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa in the southern part of the African continent.

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