Determinants of Soil Water Conservation and Nutrient Flow Management in Bufundi Sub-Catchment.Kabale District,Uganda
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Date
2013-03-20
Authors
Kaliisa, Robert
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Abstract
Soilerosion and declining soil productivity still continue to manifest in most of the agricultural
systemsfound in Sub-Sahara Africa and this has threatened the agricultural productivity,
biodiversity,water quality and availability as well as the livelihoods of the poor who depend on
land.In Uganda, this has been attributed to poor land use practices with inadequate SWC
measuresand persistent nutrient mining of the soils with little or no replenishment. Highland
areasofKabale are reported to be severely affected by soil erosion and declining soil fertility
despitecontinued efforts by farmers to conserve soil and water resources. The study examined
thedeterminants for SWC and nutrient flow management in Bufundi sub-catchment. The study
waspremised on analyzing physical, institutional and social economic factors as they were
perceivedto stronglyinfluence'SwC and nutrient flows within the different farm slope positions
ofBufundi sub-catchment. Ni~ety five (9S) structured questionnaires, key informant interviews
andtransects were conducted in the month of January 2011. Also 30 soil samples were collected
fromagricultural fields on the predominant SWC measures (terrace benches) in addition to
nutrientmonitoring using the NUTMON questionnaires, transfer functions and a NUTMON
monitoringguide. Data analysis was done using SPSS 17.0, E-view 3.0 and NUTMON 3.6
softwarefor the different types of data. The results of the survey show that family size, age, land , .
tenure,perception of soil erosion, sources of income, formation of Innovation Platforms (IPs),
farmsize, collective marketing under IP, slope, collective action and training in SWC are among
themajor factors that positively and significantly influence adoption and use of soil and water
conservationmeasures. Education, sex, off-farm activities, visits by extension agent, showed no
significantinfluence on adoption and use of soil and water conservation measures. Soil data in
thepredominant SWC measures (terrace benches) revealed that: pH, organic matter, and nitrogen
werebelow the critical values on all the"t~rrace farms. It was revealed that organic manure (IN2)
wassignificant at (p<O.OS)between farms ~nd,~qntributed between 44%, 78% and 62% of the
totalfarm inflows for N, P and K, respectivel):'. The major avenues for nutrient inflows and
lossesare organic manures (IN2), biological nitrogen fixation (IN4), crop residue (OUT2a), crop
productsharvested (OUTl) and soil erosion (OUTS) whilst no mineral fertilizer use (INl). It is
recommendedthat effective bench terrace management coupled with integrated soil fertility
managementand SWC awareness should be a priority in addition to forward-backward linkages
inorder to contribute more favorable balances in the predominant SWC measures. More efforts
shouldtarget, social, physical, financial and human capitals on bench terrace management in
additionto use of complimentary sources of soil nutrients besides the organic manure.
Description
S 625 .K4K3