Evaluation of soil nutrient management practices of taro farmers’ in Taveuni, Fiji

Nisha, Sofina and Prasad, Surendra and Bhati, Jagdish P. (2014) Evaluation of soil nutrient management practices of taro farmers’ in Taveuni, Fiji. The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, 32 . pp. 61-68. ISSN 1838-837X

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Abstract

There is evidence that the soil health in Taveuni, Fiji is deteriorating over time threatening livelihoods of taro producers. The present study was conducted to understand the soil nutrient management practices followed by taro farmers in Taveuni. The study revealed that the farmers in Taveuni use various organic and chemical fertilizers and various other soil fertility management practices such as mulching, crop rotation with legumes, yagona and agroforestry. The quantity of nitrogen, phosphorous and potash (NPK) applied to taro crop on different types of soils was meager. The study further revealed that there was imbalanced and insufficient use of chemical fertilizers and organic sources of soil nutrients. The main cause of low use of fertilizers was that the farmers in Taveuni do not know the fertility status of their farms as no soil testing was ever done and majority of them are also not fully aware of various low-cost organic methods of maintaining soil fertility of farms.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE) > School of Biological and Chemical Sciences Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE) > School of Agriculture and Food Technology
Depositing User:	Fulori Nainoca - Waqairagata
Date Deposited:	24 May 2015 22:39
Last Modified:	21 Sep 2016 02:38
URI:	https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/8275

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