Phosphorus in Sub-Sahara African Soils - Strategies and Options for improving available Soil Phosphorus in Smallholder Farming Systems: A Review

In the Sub-Saharan Africa, soil-fertility depletion in smallholder farms is the fundamental biophysical root cause for declining per capita food production. In the soils of this region, Phosphorus deficiency is widely considered the main biophysical constraint to food production in large farmland areas. Therefore there is a need to adopt measures in order to build up soil P capital especially among smallholder farmers who are economically poor. It has been reported that use of inorganic fertilizers is a fast and immediate way to avail P mostly for plant uptake and boost crop yields. Meanwhile organic fertilizers either alone or combined with inorganic fertilizer have also shown its importance in rising up soil available P and other adjacent contribution to promote nutrient uptake and lastly increase crops yield. This review paper explores the different alternatives which may be adopted by the smallholder farmers in SSA in order to build up soil available P and increase the yields of their crop.