ABSTRACT
There is a growing awareness of the need to improve nutrient use efficiency to achieve sustainable increases in crop productivity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Given the low levels of fertilizer use and poor soils, fertilizer use must increase if the region is to reverse the current trends of low crop productivity and land degradation. There are renewed efforts to re-launch the Green Revolution by raising fertilizer use through improved marketing, a supportive policy and changes in the socio-economic environment so as to increase availability at prices affordable by smallholder farmers. However, these efforts will have limited impact, unless the fundamental issues of providing the crops with adequate and balanced nutrients under variable soil fertility and climatic conditions are effectively addressed. Nutrient management research over the past decades in SSA has shown that an integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) approach offers the best prospects to increase crop productivity from the limited amounts of fertilizers and organic resources available. ISFM embodies
soil fertility management practices that include the use of fertilizer, organic inputs and improved germplasm combined with the knowledge on how to adapt these practices to local conditions, aiming at maximizing agronomic use efficiency of the applied nutrients and improving crop productivity.
(Vanlauwe et al. 2010)