Organic Matter Management By Smallholders: Why Don’t We See More of It?.

Soil organic matter is key in determining several soil properties, processes and ecosystem services, including productivity, nutrient use efficiency, water infiltration and holding capacity. Yet, soil organic matter levels in many smallholders’ fields are extremely low – reducing many of these essential services derived from soils. Yields are also low in many of these places, providing little organic material to apply to the field. Considerable research effort has shown the benefits of increasing and managing organic inputs on smallholder farms – crop residues, animal manures, composts, legume intercrops and cover crops. Benefits range from increased nutrient availability and crop production to increased soil organic matter contents and its associated indirect benefits. The adoption of these organic input and soil management practices has, in general, been disappointing. Limited land, labor, time and capital have all been mentioned as reasons for lack of adoption. Competing uses for scare organic resources for livestock and fuel also limit its application for soil organic matter management. Fertilizers increase yields on these nutrient poor soils and they can also jump start the process of increasing soil organic matter by increasing above and belowground inputs. Incentives to overcome the tradeoffs or encourage synergies associated with different soil management practices must be addressed to rebuild soil organic matter and more sustainable cropping systems.