Kamalu and Ndeh Greener Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol. 9(4), pp. 466-472, 2019 ISSN: 2276-7770 Copyright ©2019, the copyright of this article is retained by the author(s) https://gjournals.org/GJAS Rural Farmers Participatory Soil Quality Assessment in Ibiono Ibom Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Kamalu, Onyinyechi Jas.1; *Ndeh, Aniebiet Bassey2 Crop and Soil Science Department, University of Port Harcourt, P.M.B. 5323 Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Emails: onyikamalu@ gmail. com1; aniebietabasi4jesus@ gmail. com2 ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article No.: 121319215 Type: Research This study centered on rural farmers’ participatory soil quality assessment in eight communities (Ibiaku Osuk, Ikot Usen, Use Ndon, Ikpa Ikot Uneke, Ibiaku Ikot Usan, Use Ikot Amama, Edem Uraua and Oko-Ita) of Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The approaches employed were on-farm and household interviews. The study was based on administration of questionnaires and focus group discussions. A total of sixty (60) farmers were involved in the study. The rural farmers in Ibiono Ibom area consider soil quality in relation to the following aspects: visual appearance (soil colour and organic matter), Ease of tillage operation (soil texture), land forms (slope, erosion threat, drainage) and History of the land (fallow period, past yield record and prevalent weed in the area). The farmers in Ibiono Ibom have three soil quality classes using colour as index. These classes are: Obubid Isong (black or dark soil) which is ranked to be the best in terms of productivity, Idaidat Isong (red or dark brown soil) and Isong Mbat (gray bleached, heavy and poorly drained). Based on texture, the soils were classified as; Isong Mberi (presence of high organic matter and very easy to till), Isong ntan/ adan ntan (soils high in sand content) which soil type is believed to be a bad soil because it does not have a good water retention capacity, leaching of nutrients easily occur and organic matter content is low, Isong Mbat/Aduang Isong (soils high in clay content and poorly drained) and Ikon-eto (hard soils, often characterized by the presence of stones and tree stumps). The ranking of soil properties as soil quality determinant in the area was of the descending order; Colour and Past Harvest record > Texture > Vegetation > Fallow period > Topography > Location > Ease of Tillage > Drainage. Accepted: 14/12/2019 Published: 25/12/2019 *Corresponding Author Ndeh, Aniebiet Bassey E-mail: aniebietabasi4jesus@ gmail.com Keywords: soil quality; soil quality determinants; rural farmers’ perspective; productivity ranking Return to Content View [Full Article – PDF] [Full Article – HTML] [Full Article – EPUB] Post-Publication Peer-review Rundown View/get involved, click [Peer-review] REFERENCES Barrios, E.; Herrera, R. and Valles, J.L. (1994) Tropical Floodplain Agroforestry Systems in Mid-Orinoco River basin, Venezuela. Agrofor. Syst., 28, 143–157. Dawoe, E.K.; Quashie-Sam, J.; Isaac, M.E. and Oppong, S.K. (2012) Exploring Farmers’ local Knowledge and Perceptions of Soil Fertility and Management in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Geoderma, 179–180, 96–103. Desbiez, A.; Matthews, R.; Tripathi, B.; Ellis-Jones, J. (2004) Perceptions and Assessment of Soil Fertility by Farmers in the Mid-hills of Nepal. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ., 103, 191–206. Doran, J. W. (2002). Soil Health and Global Sustainability: Translating Science into Practice. Agriculture, Ecosystem and Environment, 88(2): 119-127 Doran, J. W. and Parkin, T. (1994). Defining and Assessing Soil Quality. In Defining Soil Quality for a Sustainable Environment; Coleman, D.C., Bezdicek, D.F., Stewart, B.A.E., Eds.; Soil Science Society of America: Madison, WI, USA, Volume 35, pp. 3–21. Reed, S. C.; Cleveland. C. C. and Townsend, A. R. (2007). Control over leaf litter and Soil Nitrogen Fixation in two lowland tropical rain forests. Biotropica 39 , 585 – 592. Omari, R. A, Bellingrath-Kimura, S. D., Addo, E. S., Oikawa, Y., and Fujii, Y. (Exploring Farmers’ Indigenous Knowledge of Soil Quality and Fertility Management Practices in Selected Farming Communities of the Guinea Savannah Agro-Ecological Zone of Ghana). Sustainability.10, 1034. Winter, M. (1997) New Policies and New Skills: Agricultural Change and Technology Transfer. Sociol. Ruralis, 37, 363–381. Cite this Article: Kamalu, OJ; Ndeh, AB (2019). Rural Farmers Participatory Soil Quality Assessment in Ibiono Ibom Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Greener Journal of Agricultural Sciences 9(4): 466-472. .
