There is a huge yield gap in the country, largely due to soil fertility decline, limited access to fertilizers, lack of appropriate fertilizer blends, poor soil crop integrated management.The immediate need to have Decision support tools to guide farmers, extension agents to guide farm-level decision making and policy makers to guide investments

1. Decision Support Tools for
Soil Fertility Management in Ethiopian
Highlands
Tilahun Amede, Principal Scientist

2. Sustainable Intensification
Long term Vs Satisfying immediate and growing
needs
Driven by the need for sustaining higher productivity of
land, labour and water;
1. Farm scales : increased productivity per area unit;
2. Landscape: Improved use of resources (land,
nutrients, water, labour) at landscape niches;
3. Increased use of capital (e.g. fertilizer, irrigation)
4. Changes in land use: From subsistence to market-
oriented, nutrition-rich systems

3. Community mobilization; Rehabilitated landscapes

4. Mountain
Irrigation from Yewol
watersheds
Downstream irrigation
Increased from
240 ha to 970 ha

5.  Feed production increased by 35-60%
(grazing and crop residue)
 Reduction of walking distance to access
water: from 9 km to 2 km
 Energy for walking is reduced from
 1956 MJ ME / TLU to 584 MJ ME / TLU / year
 Milk equivalent of1372 ME MJ saved: extra
252 liter of milk per lactation period / TLU
 Water: no change in water depleted for feed
production
Yield gradients, short term..

6. Integrating insitu water harvesting to maximize productivity
Increased water infiltration
Concentration of resources
(OM, nutrients, water) Year 1
Year 3Year 2

7. Drivers for Sustainable Watershed Mangt at Scale
• Availability of technological options fitting to systems;
• Development of convincing approaches;
• Financial capacity of the users / risk;
• Functional partnership; NGOs
• Changing priority of District Administrations
• Supportive infrastructure; Roads
• Attractive market opportunities

8. Fertilizer Recommendation: Efficiency and
Profitability
• Assessing nutrient deficiencies of Cropping
systems in Ethiopia through test crops particularly
with reference to micro and secondary nutrients
• Supporting the National Initiative (ATA) in
developing country-wide soil maps and fertilizer
recommendations;
• Develop a Decision Support Tool targeting systems
to achieve increased agricultural production,
system resilience and improved livelihoods using
fertilizer inputs as entry points.

9. Confluence points and our sites

10. Nutrient Zonation within the systems
Zone 1
Zone 3
Zone 2

11. Our treatments
(Optimal nutrient applications?)
• NP (90/45)
• NPK (90/45/61)
• NPKS (90/45/61/63)
• NPKSZn (90/45/61/63/10
• Minimum application (30% recommended NP)
• Farmer’s fields (control)

12. Our field trials show three types of
responses to application of various
micro and macronutrients

13. Enda-Mehoni
Zone 1. Good Crop, No effect of blends
• Crop is doing well but there
is no visible difference
among our treatments in
terms of growth, height
and vigourosity;
• Our treatments are not
even better than farmers
plots
• This is where agronomic
management played more
than nutrient application

14. Major effect from NP, and in some
case K or S
Zone 2 farms. Distinct difference among farms

15. Zone 3. Bad crop, no difference, lost investment
(Non-responsive soils)
No visible yield margin
for the investment

16. Crop response to fertilizer blends, Enda-Mehoni
(Zone 2 and 3)
Farmers' Control
33%NP NP NPK NPKS
NPKSZn
WheatGrainYield(tha-1)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Fertile soils
Marginal soils

17. Sinana
Zone 1. Good Crop, No effect of blends

18. Zone 2. Distinct difference among farms

19. Zonation in DBirhan
Zone 1
Zone 2
Zone 3

20. Farmers' Control
33%NP NP NPK NPKS
NPKSZn
WheatGrainYield(tha-1)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Fertile soils
Marginal soils
Crop response to fertilizer blends, Sinana
(Zone 1 and 2)

21. Wheat response to fertilizer blends, Lemu
(Zone 1 and 2)
Farmers' Control
33%NP NP NPK NPKS
NPKSZn
WheatGrainYield(tha-1)
0
1
2
3
4
5
Marginal soils
Fertile soils

22. Farmers' Control
33%NP NP NPK NPKS
NPKSZn
WheatGrainYield(tha-1)
0
1
2
3
4
5
Fertile soils
Marginal soils
b
ab
a
ab ab
Control / 33%NP/ NP / NPK / NPKS / NPKSZn
Crop response to fertilizer blends, Dbirhan
(Zone 1 and 2)

23. Aftereffect of fertilizer blends on yield
of Potato, 2015 (Zone 2)
33%NP NP NPK
NPKS
NPKSZn
PotatoYield(tha
-1
)
0
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
36
40
44
48
52
D Birhan
Lemu
ab ab ab
a
a
b
a
a a
ab

24. Farmers' Control
33%NP NP NPK
NPKS
NPKSZn
Zinc(mgkg-1)
0
8
12
16
20
Protein(%)
0
8
12
16
20Protein
Zinc
b
b b
a a
b
a
a
a
a
33%NP/ NP / NPK / NPKS / NPKSZn
Zinc and Protein as affected by blends, Mehoni

25. Zinc and Protein as affected by blends, Lemu
Zinc(mgkg-1)
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
36
40
Protein(%)
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
36
40Protein
Zinc
a a a a a
c
b
b
a
a
33%NP/ NP / NPK / NPKS / NPKSZn

26. Calcium as affected by blends
(confounding effect?)
33%NP NP
NPK
NPKS
NPKSZn
Ca(gkg-1)
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0 Mehoni
Lemu
b
d
d
a
c
b
c
c
b
a
a

27. Current Status and Next steps-
• National Workshop, Led and Facilitated by EIAR
Conducted; Dec 18, 2015
• National Task Force that would revisit the
approaches and recommendations created
• Next workshop, agree on a similar methodology to
test use country wide-across institutions
• Expand this work to more regions and Cropping
systems
• Joint evidence for Policy dialogue?
• Functional and easy to use DST

28. Soil Nutrient DST
Soil Nutrient
Information
Manure/
Compost
Information
Land parcel location ( Map)
and Cropping information
“Green Book” of National
Crop & Soil Specific Nutrient
Advice
Advisor – Farmer
Consultation
Information
Farm Tabular Nutrient
Recommendation /Report
Farm Nutrient Management
Land Parcel Specific Fertiliser Plan
Decision Support Tool
Central Data System
Crop
Requirement
Information
Schulte etal, 2015

29. Thank you

30. Identifying Nutrient Management Zones
 Fields are a mosaic of habitats, each having unique
biophysical characteristics that influence soil properties
and crop yields.
 The effectiveness of matching fertilizer types to soil
fertility problems rests on the ability to identify limiting
factors, characterize sites, and develop appropriate
recommendations.
 Approaches for identifying nutrient management zones
require collection and interpretation of spatial data
(yield, elevation, remote sensed imagery, apparent
electrical conductivity, soil nutrient maps, and Farmers’
soil classification criteria).