Poor soil fertility affects mahangu production

Namibian rangeland expert Axel Rothauge has urged communal farmers to improve soil fertility to increase mahangu production as the country enters the rainy season.

Rothauge, who works for AgriConsult, told The Namibian last week that farmers should prepare their fields early and focus on improving the quality of their soil to produce better harvests.

He says many communal farmers have cultivated the same fields for years without replacing the nutrients that crops take from the soil.

“They should start investing in soil fertility. There are fields which have been cultivated for the past 800 years and their crop yields are still increasing because soil fertility can be manipulated by man,” Rothauge says.

He says research he conducted in the Kunene and Kavango East regions found that soil in cultivated fields was less fertile than soil in nearby grazing areas.