3.6. Comparison of reported and measured soil fertility
Chemical analyses of soils from fields grouped as fertile or infertile by farmers are shown in Table 8. Mean pH values were 6.3 (fertile soils) and 5.6 (infertile soils) with most individual soil pH values falling within the ranges of 4.7–6.5 indicating strongly to mildly acidic conditions. Nitrogen (N) levels were high in fertile fields (0.18–0.32%) and low in infertile fields (0.09–0.14%) as compared to published data on soil N in the region (0.13–0.19%) (Dawoe et al., 2010). Levels of P and K were higher in the reportedly fertile fields than in the infertile fields. Furthermore, measured values of soil organic matter followed the same trend: higher in reportedly fertile soils. There was thus a strong similarity between the farmers’ assessment of fertility on their fields and the measured soil properties (Table 8).