OUTPUT 3: METHODS TO IMPROVE SOIL FERTILITY
There is the smallest investment directly in Output 3 of the PSP, although there are considerable achievements elsewhere in improving the productivity of crops in low fertility fields from marker assisted selection, participatory plant breeding and seed priming.
In the early years of the PSP management contract, funding under this output was directed towards efforts to develop nitrogen fixation in non-legumes which, in the end, proved unsuccessful.
Assessment of the nutrient budgets in Namibia dispelled the myth that, in the absence of external inputs such as fertiliser and irrigation, legumes could contribute substiantially to sustainability in semi-arid areas. Nevertheless, farmers showed great interest in growing legumes for purposes other than soil fertility maintenance, such as nutrition and taste.
PSP AT A GLANCE
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