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<p>The rapidly increasing population growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), disruptions in the fertilizer supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and recent geopolitical tensions have highlighted the need for immediate actions toward optimizing fertilizer nutrients use. Fertilizer recommendations in SSA are either pan-territorial, obsolete, having been developed in the 1970s or 1980s, or completely nonexistent for major crops, including maize. The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), with the mission to improve soil health through better nutrient management, has developed and used soil and crop simulation models over the years to capture complex soil–plant–atmosphere interactions and their effect on crop response to nutrient application. IFDC developed the Geographic Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (GSSAT2) software, an enhanced version of the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer, that integrates features for autonomous data collection, simulation parallelism, and intuitive geographic information system data visualization, in combination with economic analysis, to derive geospatial fertilizer recommendations. The GSSAT2 approach has been adopted by the Sustainable Opportunities for Improving Livelihoods with Soils Consortium Space to Place initiative to develop more effective and localized soil fertility recommendations for more profitable, productive, and environmentally sustainable fertilizer use by smallholder farmers. Application of GSSAT2 using legacy data from Zambia on weather, soil physical and chemical properties, crop genetics and management, and input and output prices in maize revealed high spatial and temporal variability of nutrient requirements and yields, justifying the need for fertilizer recommendations targeted to farmers’ conditions. November and December appeared to be the best months for planting maize, with rainfed potential yields ranging from 5.5 to 6.8&#xa0;Mg&#xa0;ha<sup>−1</sup>. Earlier planting could work in Western Zambia, while later planting in January and February could occur in selected parts of Eastern Zambia, but with high risks of crop failure due to drought. In addition to assessing tailored nutrient management capabilities using GSSAT2, this paper also discusses further refinement of the predictions with minimum data input on place-level or site characteristics for what we refer to as “hyper-localization”.</p>

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Optimizing nutrient requirement in space and time for increased crop yield and income

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年8月22日

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  • Kodjovi S. Ezui,
  • Latha Nagarajan,
  • Nathan Bombana,
  • Jacques Fils Pierre,
  • Willingthon Pavan,
  • Fayisa Bulo,
  • Klaus Sipope,
  • Mulugeta Demiss,
  • Patricia Ngosa Mutale Haamukwanza,
  • Benny Kabwela,
  • Brian P. Mulenga,
  • Wilson Leonardo,
  • Yam Gaihre,
  • Paul Wilkens,
  • Zachary Stewart,
  • Upendra Singh

摘要

The rapidly increasing population growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), disruptions in the fertilizer supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and recent geopolitical tensions have highlighted the need for immediate actions toward optimizing fertilizer nutrients use. Fertilizer recommendations in SSA are either pan-territorial, obsolete, having been developed in the 1970s or 1980s, or completely nonexistent for major crops, including maize. The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), with the mission to improve soil health through better nutrient management, has developed and used soil and crop simulation models over the years to capture complex soil–plant–atmosphere interactions and their effect on crop response to nutrient application. IFDC developed the Geographic Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (GSSAT2) software, an enhanced version of the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer, that integrates features for autonomous data collection, simulation parallelism, and intuitive geographic information system data visualization, in combination with economic analysis, to derive geospatial fertilizer recommendations. The GSSAT2 approach has been adopted by the Sustainable Opportunities for Improving Livelihoods with Soils Consortium Space to Place initiative to develop more effective and localized soil fertility recommendations for more profitable, productive, and environmentally sustainable fertilizer use by smallholder farmers. Application of GSSAT2 using legacy data from Zambia on weather, soil physical and chemical properties, crop genetics and management, and input and output prices in maize revealed high spatial and temporal variability of nutrient requirements and yields, justifying the need for fertilizer recommendations targeted to farmers’ conditions. November and December appeared to be the best months for planting maize, with rainfed potential yields ranging from 5.5 to 6.8 Mg ha−1. Earlier planting could work in Western Zambia, while later planting in January and February could occur in selected parts of Eastern Zambia, but with high risks of crop failure due to drought. In addition to assessing tailored nutrient management capabilities using GSSAT2, this paper also discusses further refinement of the predictions with minimum data input on place-level or site characteristics for what we refer to as “hyper-localization”.